Gladiolus Studies — II 249 



long. The end pieces are nailed, thin i-inch nails being used. One 

 lath makes three pieces for the bottom. From six laths eighteen pieces 

 15! inches long are sawed. These are nailed to the bottom with a space 

 between them equal to the thickness of one lath. The tray is finished 

 by nailing two pieces at the bottom lengthwise. It is then lined with 

 paper, and is ready to receive the corms. In this cellar three trays may 

 be placed one above another. The work should be done in the spare 

 moments of the dull season. In such a place the bulbs are away from 

 dampness, and are in a temperature a few degrees higher than on the 

 floor, as the living-room above communicates the heat to a stratum of 

 air beneath the floor. 



Many of the smaller growers feel that storage in the home cellar is 

 as effective as in a special bulb storage house. Any place adequate 

 for the proper keeping of potatoes over winter will be admirable for the 

 storage of gladiolus corms. 



It is best not to store in too deep boxes or in bushel baskets, since under 

 such conditions the corms easily ferment and become heated. 



Kunderd (191 5 a) recommends the use of sand to cover the corms when, 

 small lots of each kind are maintained. It serves to prevent them from 

 shrinking and keeps them in a good, plump condition. This seems espe- 

 cially advisable when frost may possibly enter the storage place. Further- 

 more it is a protection against too much moisture under damp storage 

 conditions. Henry Youell advocates mixing fine, dry soil with the corms, 

 which is sifted out at planting. He remarks that, according to the con- 

 dition of the soil, some growers recommend dampening the soil imme- 

 diately before planting. 



CORMELS 



Soon after the base of the growing stem of the gladiolus has begun to 

 thicken, small corms are found to have formed between the old and the 

 new corm. These are properly called cormels. The}^ are covered with 

 a hard shell, thus differing from seedling gladioli of the same size, which 

 have a covering more like a husk, composed of the dried bases of the 

 previous season's leaves. 



To keep up the standard of the stock and for rapid propagation, repro- 

 duction by cormels is essential. Cormels range from one-sixteenth to 

 three-fourths inch in diameter, and will produce corms of blooming size 

 in a year less time than will seeds. According to the variety, thev flower 

 in from one to four years. A single corm has been known to produce as 

 many as two hundred cormels in a season. 



Regarding the growing of cormels, Crawford (Crawford and \^an Fleet, 

 191 1) recommends having the soil as rich as possible at corm-planting 



