THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



April and it can be secured generally by keeping the 

 16-30 window open and the door shut. Such slight draught 

 as is created by air flowing from window to fireplace 

 is not likely to do any harm except when the wind is 

 flowing strongly from a cold quarter ; in such circum- 

 stances the plants should be moved while the window is 

 open. Ventilation should always be provided when gas 

 or a lamp is burning. 



Planting Gladioli. — The brilliant and graceful Gladi- 

 olus is one of the grandest of late summer flowers, and 

 the price of corms has been reduced considerably in 

 recent years. Everybody cannot afford to buy the 

 newest hybrids, but there are very few who cannot 

 afford mixed corms, and the varieties are sure to be 

 good if purchased from a dealer of repute. The plant 

 will succeed on almost any soil that is drained, but 

 it certainly does not like sticky ground. The greatest 

 obstacle that I myself have encountered is not a degree 

 of lightness or heaviness in the soil, or of a week earlier 

 or later in planting, but the onslaught of wireworm. 

 This exasperating pest has to be taken very seriously 

 when Gladioli are being planted on ground from which 

 turf has been recently lifted. It is quite equal to spoil- 

 ing a pound's worth of corms and the whole season's 

 bloom. A Gladiolus expert once told me that if I rolled 

 or trod my beds quite hard after planting ("about as 

 hard as a macadam road " was the way in which he put 

 it) wireworm would cease from troubling. Alas ! the 

 sufferer from this practice was not the wireworm, but 

 the gardener, whose extra labour only seemed to inspire 

 the wireworm to fresh deeds of destruction. Apterite 

 or Vaporite should be worked into the soil, and baits of 

 Potato may be embedded. 



The ground for Gladioli should be deeply dug. If 

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