THE GLADIOLUS. 191 



the satisfaction of knowing that all varieties are true to the 

 name more than compensates. If this mode were followed 

 by growers, there would be no such general complaint as now 

 exists, of poor kinds being imposed for good varieties. Our 

 experience is, that, in this respect, the most culpable care- 

 lessness prevails, which yearly grows worse as varieties 

 increase. 



PROPAGATION BY BULBLETS. 



We have said that seeds seldom produce the parent : how, 

 then, can we multiply any variety in quantity ? By bulblets. 

 When we take up the bulb in the autumn, we see at the base 

 of the root more or less numerous bunches of black or white 

 hard bulbs, varying in size from a marble to a mustard-seed. 

 These, if we can get them to grow, produce the original 

 variety. Collect these carefully, bag and label them, and 

 lay them aside for eighteen months ; then sow them in the 

 open border in a prepared bed : they will come up in ten 

 days (not one will fail), and form bulbs which will bloom the 

 next summer. If, however, you plant them the next spring 

 after gathering (instead of keeping them over a season), not 

 one in a hundred will come up. 



