Gladiolus Studies — II 



245 



The husks, or tunics, are really the 

 bases of the last year's leaves 



but these are scarious, and are called husks, or tunics, in the case of the 



gladiolus. These scales are bases of leaves, but are not thickened as they 



are in bulbs. Botanically considered, a bud 



or the potentiality for a bud exists in the 



axils of all leaves. There should be one bud 



for each layer of tunics, or husks. Because 



of the manner of growth of the gladiolus, 



which is in one plane, these buds should 



have an opposite arrangement, thus causing 



them to lie in one straight line through the 



center of the corm. 



It takes from one to four years, according 



to the variety, for a seedling to produce a Fig. 35. gladiolus corm 



corm of blooming size. It takes one year less 



for a cormel to flower. Gladiolus purpureo- 



auratus has the character of blooming quickly from seed, and has trans- 

 mitted this character to its offspring; it was therefore a great factor 



in the production of the praecox strain. 



Every stem that makes vigorous growth has at its base a corm. Each 



corm has several buds, of which each one that grows will produce a new 



corm on top of the one planted. Seven bulbs of blooming size in one 



season are reported by Higgins (1912). In this way the grower's stock 



is not only reproduced each season, but also rapidly increased, provided 



good soil and proper cultivation are given. 



The vigor and the thickness of a corm 

 depend much on the proper growth of 

 foliage. If in cutting the spike little 

 vegetative growth is left above the soil, 

 only small quantities of food can be 

 manufactured by these abbreviated 

 leaves, and the base of the stem, or 

 corm, in which the food is stored, suffers. 

 The failure of amateurs to carry over 

 stock is often due to cutting the shoots 

 near the surface of the soil, the corms 

 thus being able to make little or no 



1 IG. 36. GLADIOLUS CORM FROM j , ^ ^i . , . 



WHICH THE TUNIC HAS BEEN dcvelopmcnt. i hc suggestion, then, is 

 REMOVED that if one wants an annual renewal of 



Note the scars due to the bases of the old , 1 •1,1 



leaves, The buds are in a straight line, and COrmS, CarC muSt be CXCrClSed tO Icave 

 there is one bud for each ring on the corm „, «:„: j. r t tj. j^i_- ji m 



sufficient fohage after cutting the spike. 



It is the general opinion that corms which have been allowed to bloom 



every year for three or four years become thinner and thinner. These 



