1895.] ESSAYS. .57 



hand. The choicer kinds will have a tendency to grow like that. They 

 don't increase rapidly like the poor ones. One bulb so planted will 

 produce three. Now at the foot of these little bulbs, there are a lot 

 of little ones like them ; they are what we call bulblets, and will 

 produce other bulbs true to its variety every time. I am asked a 

 great many times doesn't the Gladiolus run back ? I will say right 

 here, they don't run back? They come true to the variety of those 

 planted every time, and the reason that people suppose they run back, 

 is because the good one only produces one and the poor ones produce 

 five or six. The good one is liable to die. I never knew any poor 

 ones to die, if we are anxious to propagate a variety. These little 

 bulblets are covered with a very hard shell. You take it and split it 

 with a knife, and peel it off. That makes it grow twice the size that 

 it would if you had planted it as it naturally grew on the side of the 

 bulb. Some bulbs when planted only produce one bulb, but they are 

 liable to have three or four and sometimes a whole handful. A poor 

 one will increase a great deal more rapidly than the good one. 



I have jotted down here a few names of varieties that I know are 

 desirable. I will say right here that anyone wishing to grow Gladi- 

 olus will do well to take some of the named kinds ; for you know what 

 you are growing and can reasonably expect to receive good results. 

 When you grow mixed varieties, of course they make a fine show ; but 

 if you ever want to gain any desired point, you are not capable of 

 doing it. Now I will start and run through a few of the best varieties. 



Addison's^ it is a very dark one and always comes good. 



Aurora., this is another fine one that always comes good. It is a 

 bright salmon. 



Baroness Burdette Coutts, this is one of the finest. It is a choice 

 shade of lilac. Anyone wishing to grow a good flower, there is no 

 Gladiolus that takes its place. 



Camelian. this is another very attractive flower ; it comes very 

 close on the spike. 



Conqwant, this is an immense spike ; it is very large and is a dark 

 crimson with a white centre. It is a very fine thing. 



Crupsele, is a light one, and has a very small bulb ; the flower that 

 it bears is equal to the one that the Baroness Burdette Coutts bears. 



Flamhigo, is a very large, striking, magnificent flower, and is a 

 bright scarlet. 



La Candeur, is a white one with a stripe through the centre of the 

 lower petal. 



Drajy D'Or, is a dark lemon ; but when I say lemon, there is a 



