266 GLADIOLUS ANTWERPIENSIS. 



flowers, ten or a dozen should be put in a clump together. About the 

 middle of March the soil should be thrown out of the space for the 

 bed, about nine inches deep, a layer of well-rotted dung be spread 

 over the bottom, and pointed in with the under soil ; let this be 

 covered with about four inches of soil, a sandy loam, and then made 

 even ; upon this surface the bulbs must be placed singly, in rows 

 about eight inches apart every -way ; a little sand be laid around 

 each bulb, and then the bed filled in, covering the bulbs about four 

 inches deep. In dry weather, watering the bed freely in the evening 

 should be attended to, for if once allowed to shrivel, the flowers soon 

 fade. Tie up each plant as it progresses, and nothing can exceed the 

 beauty and interest when in full bloom. The tallest kinds should be 

 planted along the centre of the bed, and be so arranged that the blend- 

 ing of the colours may give the most striking contrast, but so that no 

 taller kinds shall conceal the spikes of the dwarfer. Water given 

 over the flowers damages them, and to prevent this a roofed canvas 

 screen is stretched over the bed, These plants bloom from the be- 

 ginning of June to the end of August. Another bed planted at the 

 end of April comes into bloom about the middle of August, and con- 

 tinues to the end of summer. 



The bulbs of the first planted bed should be taken up early in 

 October, and the others as soon as the foliage is damaged by frost, 

 taking care the roots do not get injured. After taken up, they must 

 be kept in the greenhouse or seed room, dry and from frost till the 

 planting season, then all the lateral bulbs should be taken off, and 

 planted singly as before. 



The following are the best twelve kinds grown in this manner : — 



Gladiolus blandus, H foot, flesh colour. 



— Byzantinus, li foot, deep red. 



cardinalis, 2 feet, bright red. 



Colvilli, 2 feet, scarlet and yellow. 



i ■ Spofforthiana, 2 feet, various colours. 



communis, 1£ foot, bright red. 



■ alba, li foot, white. 



carneus, 1^ foot, flesh colour. 



• psittacinus, 4 feet, orange, red, and scarlet. 



• ramosissimus, 4 feet, fine rosy pink, 

 pudibundus, 2f feet, fine rosy blush, 

 imbricatus, 2 feet, red. 



