GLADIOLUS. 133 



not flower until the third or fourth year, when the labor 

 you have bestowed will be fully compensated with some- 

 thing new, and in all probability, interesting-. These 

 bulbs, with the exception of the two first named, should 

 not be planted until the danger of frost is over, for without 

 due caution, you may lose your bulbs. If early flowers 

 be the object, plant them in pots to forward them, and keep 

 them in the house or pit, from thence to the garden in May. 

 These bulbs increase readily by offsets, some varieties more 

 than others. G. communis and G. byzanthus should be 

 planted in October, and will stand the winter and flower 

 early. 



GLOXINIA. 



" Who can paint 



Like Nature? Can imagination boast, 

 Amidst this gay creation, hues like hers 1 

 And can he mix them with that matchless skill, 

 And lay them on so delicately fine, 

 And lose them in each other, as appears 

 In every hud that blows? If fancy then, 

 Unequal, fails beneath the pleasing task, 

 Oh ! what can language do." 



This beautiful plant is a native of South America, and 

 has hitherto been treated as a tender stove plant ; but on a 

 better acquaintance with its habits in cultivation, this has 

 been clearly proved not to be the case. It is easily culti- 

 vated by any amateur ; and indeed such proofs have been 



