170 ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE GLADIOLUS CARDINALIS, 
Cardinal Lily growing in such luxuriance, and said he had never seen 
anything like it in all his travels, either in this or in any other country ; 
and in a work lately published by Mrs. Loudon she says, ‘‘ The finest 
bed of the scarlet Gladiolus I ever saw was at Blair-Adam, near Stir- 
ling, where it was suffered to remain year after year without altera- 
tion.” As I have, therefore, been fortunate in the cultivation of this 
flower, and am desirous that it should be more extensively cultivated in 
this country, I beg to lay before the Caledonian Horticultural Society 
the result of some experiments and observations made during the last 
nine years. 
It is generally recommended, in our horticultural and floricultural 
periodicals, ‘that when the leaves have died away, the roots be taken 
up for the winter, and also divided.” But the mode which I adopt is 
as follows:—About the beginning of October, when it is wished to 
propagate them, I take from well-established plants a ball or cluster of 
corms, perhaps about a foot in circumference; I plant these balls in 
beds two feet wide, preferring a somewhat shaded situation, placing 
the clusters one foot apart and three or four inches deep, with a little 
sand round each mass of bulbs. In the course of two or three years 
the beds are found to be wholly filled with the plants. I have frequently 
planted them in the above manner, and they have stood, year after year, 
without any protection whatever, even in our most severe winters. It 
is advisable, however, during the first winter after planting, or when 
the earth is loosened about the plants, to cover the beds two or three 
inches deep with leaf-mould or half-decomposed leaves. 
When the cluster of bulbs attains to the size of a foot in diameter, 
it is proper to lift and divide it into three or four portions ; for when 
the balls or masses are too large, the bulbs degenerate in size, and con- 
sequently the flowers become smaller. 
By way of experiment, I divided a large ball of corms, and planted 
them out singly into a bed in the open air, when only two flowers 
made their appearance the first season, and in the course of the follow- 
ing year they had all died away. I believe many cultivators have 
experienced a similar disappointment. In order to the formation of a 
permanent bed, I would, therefore, recommend that roots of different 
sizes be at first grown in pots, five or six in each pot, and protected 
during winter in a cold pit or frame, or under the stage of a green- 
house, for a year or two, until they swell into a cluster. When the 
clusters have attained a sufficient size they may be planted out with 
safety, and will be able to withstand the winter, as already mentioned. 
This Gladiolus may be forced for supplying the greenhouse or con- 
servatory, in the beginning of summer, with its lovely flowers. In 
the month of October I take eight or twelve sized pots, and fill them 
with as large a cluster of the strongest plants as the pots will admit, 
and protect them till they are required for forcing. I thus will have 
from six to twelve trusses of flowers in each pot. Last season, in a 
box one foot square, there were no fewer than twenty-three trusses 
growing. 
The Gladiolus is easily propagated from seed. It may be sown 
about the middle or end of September, as soon as ripe, or early in the 
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