82 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



Colvillei, and some other species can be bought with Hyacinths and 

 Tulips in autumn, and planted then. The first named is a really 

 valuable flower garden plant, on account of its vigorous growth, 

 hardiness, cheapness, and brilliant colour. Colvillei and the white 

 variety are generally grown in pots, particularly the latter, which is a 

 highly popular greenhouse plant. The corms of the fine cross-bred 

 Gladioli are not generally harvested early enough in autumn to be 

 sold with the Dutch bulbs, and in any case it. would not be wise to 

 subject such relatively expensive things to the rigours attending a 

 winter sojourn in the open ground, because they keep perfectly sound 

 and dormant in a dry, frost-proof store. Tulips and other bulbs will 

 not remain dormant throughout the winter : they will begin to grow 

 in autumn, and hence the necessity for early planting. The Gladioli 

 corms may be covered with two inches of soil. When growth decays 

 in the autumn it may be cut away, and the corms lifted ; it will 

 probably be found that a new corm has formed on the top of the 

 old one, which is decaying. If this is the case, the old corm may 

 be thrown away and the new one stored until spring. Should 

 any small offsets have formed, they may be collected, stored, and 

 planted in a nursery plot in the spring, to there increase in size, 

 and eventually become of flowering size. 



The beginner is often perplexed when, in turning to price lists, he 

 finds various sections of a particular flower, the differences between 

 which he does not know. In the case of Gladioli, for example, he 

 may find them offered under the names of Gandavensis, Childsii, 

 Saundersii, purpureo-auratus, and so on. It is really hardly worth 

 his while to charge his mind with the distinctions, for even specialists 

 are hard put to it to define them nowadays, so much have the sections 

 been intercrossed. The person who buys a selection of good Ganda- 

 vensis varieties will certainly be on the safe side, for they have the 

 special merits that he wants vigorous growth, and rich, varied 

 colours. He will admire them on the plants, and he will admire them 

 when, having given a tardy, reluctant consent to a young spike being 



