130 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



from seed. The proper time for planting is April or May. They 

 may be planted as late as June, if the bulbs are kept dry and 

 are not started. They will stand the winter ; but it is not 

 desirable to leave them out, for two reasons. The bulb being 

 formed each year above the old one, it is necessary to plant 

 them deeper. Besides, the multiplication of the bulbs makes it 

 desirable that they should be taken up and separated. They 

 should be taken up just before or just after a frost, and after 

 being gradually dried should be kept in a dry place, the tops 

 having been cut off and the roots cleaned. These specimens 

 were of the French hybrid Gladiolus, derived from the Emperor's 

 gardens. The soil best adapted to them is a good loamy soil. 

 They require considerable moisture, and do not bear, particu- 

 larly in the dry season, too much exposure to the sun and heat. 

 It should not be fertilized too strongly with manures. 



Mr. Carpenter remarked that experience seemed to show that 

 there is a certain point that we cannot go beyond in the improve- 

 ment of fruits and flowers, and that if we attempt to pass that 

 limit, the fruit or the flower falls back to its original condition. 



PROTECTION FROM DROUGHT. 



Mr. Carpenter stated, that, in a portion of Westchester county, 

 there has been no rain of any consequence since the 4th or 5th 

 of June. Yet, the portion of his garden which had been trenched, 

 30 inches deep, and manured throughout at the same time, there 

 was no injury from the drought. Melons planted there, and 

 receiving no artificial watering, were doing as well as he could 

 desire. In other parts of his garden the ground is baked hard, and 

 the melon vines are nearly dead, there being no fruit upon them 

 of any value. Much can be done upon the farm by subsoil plow- 

 ing, 20 inches deep. A piece of ground thus prepared and sown 

 with carrots, was doing well. The stirring of the surface, in a 

 dry time, is very important. An application of a very small 

 quantity of gypsum will produce a striking efi'ect, from its 

 attracting the moisture of the atmosphere. He had applied it 

 with marked effect upon potatoes and corn. It is a good plan to 

 give the corn a slight dusting three or four times, with gypsum, 

 in the course of the season. 



Mr. Bergen said that clearing the ground of weeds is not all 

 that is necessary. At no time does the ground so much need 

 frequent stirring as in the time of extreme drought. He had 



