Management of the Gladiolus natalensis. 55 



tion of sand, and placed them in the greenhouse. (I have no doubt 

 a warm room, or a hot-bed, in which the heat is nearly exhausted, 

 would answer the same purpose.) They remained in this situation, 

 making apparently very little progress in their growth, till all danger 

 of spring frosts and chilling winds were over, when one was turned 

 out of the pot and plunged in the border ; the other remained in the 

 pot, which however, was shifted once or twice during the season. 

 The latter did not flower, owing undoubtedly to being confined in 

 too small a pot. The former, a few days after its removal grew 

 astonishingly fast, and by the first of September it had thrown up 

 four flower spikes, to the height of nearly four feet. About the 

 twelfth of the month it began to open its gorgeous blossoms, and at 

 one time, I counted seven fully expanded, on one spike. The ex- 

 hibition of the society being near at hand, and knowing that the com- 

 mittee wished to collect every thing beautiful, and more particularly 

 every thing new and rare, and fearing that mutilating the plant would 

 destroy its elegance, I took it up, placed it in a large pot about ten 

 inches in diameter, and set it in a shady situation until the seven- 

 teenth, when it was sent to the exhibition, with a few other varieties 

 of plants. Its removal to the pot contrary to my expectations, did 

 not injure the blooming in the least, every bud opening in full per- 

 fection. The soil, where it was turned out of the pot in the spring, 

 was a light sandy loam, without having been enriched ; the exposure 

 of the plant to the sun w^as only until mid-day, it standing partly 

 under the shade of a tree ; and on a sandy bottom, I gave it 

 large quantities of water every eve succeeding the hot days of the 

 season ; and from this circumstance of its situation, I infer that it loves 

 a loamy rather than a peat soil, as is generally recommended in the 

 English publications. The bulb was set only an inch under the sur- 

 face of the soil, and the flower stems as they advanced, were tied to 

 to small neat sticks, painted green. After the flower stems had 

 withered away, they were turned out of the pots in a warm aspect, 

 placed upon their sides (to prevent wet from penetrating the heart) four 

 inches under the soil, where they remained till the approach of hard 

 frosts ; when they were taken up, cleaned of their old dead leaves 

 and fibres, wrapt up in papers, and put away in a dry room. 



Yours, S. SWEETSER. 



Cambridgeport, Jan. 8ih, 1835- 



We place much value upon th? atove communication of Mr. Sweetser, as it is 

 the actual result of the piactice pursued by him in flowering tliis species, spoke :i 

 of in our last. We think the Gladiolus one of the most beautiful genus of thf 

 whole natural family of Irideas, and we beheve, that when the c\iltivation of all 

 the species is better understood, they will become equally common with the Tulip, 

 the Hyacintli, and the Narcissus, to which they will not yield in the elegance, 

 and diversity of their colors. In England, the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert 

 has given the whole family of Iridere frreat attention, and particu arly the genus 

 Gladioli ; he has raised many beautiful hybrids, which are now to be found in 

 every collection, where choice kinds are desired ; and so much have they been 



