190 THE GLADIOLUS. 



PRESERVATION OF VARIETIES. 



As a bulb worth five dollars cannot, in the dry state, be 

 distinguished from one worth five cents, great care must be 

 taken to preserve varieties true to the name. For this, the 

 use of wooden labels, with the name written in black-lead, is 

 to be discouraged, as, aside from the danger of misplacing, 

 the name is often rendered illegible by the weather. We 

 liave as yet seen no better way than our own, by which we 

 have preserved some hundreds of distinct varieties without 

 a mistake. The names are written with chemical ink on 

 both sides of a zinc label (such as are ordinarily sold for 

 fruit-trees) : these are attached to chestnut-stakes two and a 

 half feet long, pointed at the lower end, and bored at the 

 upper by a zinc wire (iron rusts, lead is too pliable, copper 

 eats the zinc). 



In planting, we set the stake with the name attached when 

 we plant the bulb : as the plant grows, it is tied to the stake ; 

 and, in autumn, stake and bulb come up together. When 

 the bulb is dry enough to bag, the name from the stake is 

 first written on the bag ; then the bulb is cut off, cleaned, and 

 bagged, the stalk thrown away, and the stake put away for 

 the next year. All this takes time, and is troublesome ; bi\t 



