ON THE GLADIOLUS 



ment of the new hybrid races under cultivation, 

 and the elimination of the parent forms by their 

 improved descendants, has taken place in so com- 

 paratively short a time that its chief steps are 

 matter of record, as we have seen. 



So the story of the gladiolus has elements of 

 educational interest for the plant developer that 

 are quite lacking in many of the cultivated plants 

 which attained relative perfection at an earlier 

 period. 



EARLY WORK AT SANTA ROSA 



There are a few species of gladiolus that are 

 native to Europe and Asia, but the ones that were 

 chiefly used by the early hybridizers came from 

 South Africa, as already related. 



Doubtless this fact was not without significance 

 in determining the results of the work of the early 

 cultivators. We have seen illustrated more than 

 once the effect of transplanting a plant to new 

 soils, and in particular of transporting it from one 

 hemisphere to the other. 



We cannot doubt, then, that the change in the 

 seasons and in the soils and climatic conditions in 

 general had a share in promoting the variability 

 of the gladiolus when brought to Europe, although, 

 as we have seen, the tangible stimulus to variation 

 was given through the now familiar method of 

 hybridization. 



[177] 



