THE GLADIOLUS AND ITS CULTURE. 209 



sion of flowers will be produced for two months. In winter 

 keep the bulbs from frost. Seed is freely produced, and 

 hybridization between this and other varieties easily 

 effected. The growth of this species and its hybrids is 

 very vigorous ; the plants require staking, otherwise they 

 are liable to be broken by the wind. 



PROPAGATION or THE GLADIOLUS BY SEED. 



The Gladiolus may be propagated by seed ; the sowing 

 should be in the fall, as soon as the seeds are gathered, or 

 during the months of January and February, March and 

 April, in a peaty soil, in a frame covered with glass to ex- 

 clude the frost, or in pots or pans well drained, and filled 

 with fresh peat ; the seeds should be scarcely covered. 

 The pots in which the seeds are sown should be placed 

 in the green-house or in a frame. 



When the plants appear, and the rays of the sun are too 

 strong, shade them ; place them in large pans, and give 

 them air, in order to make them strong. When, in the 

 month of May, the weather is fine and settled, remove the 

 frames which sheltered the seed in the open borders, or re- 

 pot, and place the pots of young plants in the open ground, 

 so that the first year they may make the greatest possible 



