THE GLADIOLUS. 3! 



crop ; then it will be in perfect order for your Gladiolus 

 the next. 



INCREASE BY BULBLETS. 



Increase of desirable sorts is effected by the small 

 bulbs or bulblets that form at the base of the new bulb, 

 which are produced in greater or less quantities. Some 

 varieties will have on an average a hundred in a year ; 

 others will produce scarcely any. The bulblets should 

 be planted in spring, and given the same treatment as 

 recommended for the seed. If planted in rich, light soil, 

 and attention given to careful weeding and mulching 

 with leaf mould, saw-dust, or any such non-conducting 

 material, so as to prevent the sun's rays from drying and 

 heating up the soil too much, nearly all of the young 

 bulblets will flower the second year. They should be 

 sown in drills about six inches wide, or the width of a 

 common hoe, and the drills about one foot apart. The 

 bulblets or seedlings should be sown thick enough to 

 touch each other. In this way they will do better than if 

 sown too thin, as then the soil between the plants would 

 get heated and dried up. 



TIME TO PLANT. 



During the winter, Gladiolus bulbs, whether large or 

 small, should be kept in a dry, cool cellar. As the bulb is 

 nearly hardy, plantings may be set out as soon as the 

 ground is fit to work in spring ; and even should the 

 ground be frozen after, they will sustain no injury. 



Bulbs set out during April will be usually at their best 

 flowering in August, but "succession plantings " may be 

 made every ten days until the middle of July, which will 

 give a succession of bloom the entire season. It is a 



