GLADIOLUS. 113 



good forms that we did not anticipate. From seeds 

 saved from the best flowers, we have secured excellent 

 results ; while from seeds gathered at random, we have 

 had some of the best flowers we have ever grown. From 

 a long and varied experience in growing the Gladiolus 

 from seed, we are fully convinced of the folly of attempt- 

 ing to secure any given form or color by any artificial 

 means ; convinced that form and color are wholly beyond 

 control ; tfcat the offspring are liable to have any of the 

 colors of the original species, or any combination or vari- 

 ation of color that the originals could produce. It is 

 held, and, as a rule, correctly, that by persistent selec- 

 tion of any given form, a type can be secured ; that if 

 we save seed from the best, or only the purest white, we 

 can finally secure seed that will give only white flowers ; 

 or at least we can finally secure a pure white variety. 

 The same is said of the yellows or scarlets. Our experi- 

 ence with Gladiolus has been the reverse. For instance, 

 Isaac Buchanan is the nearest a clear golden yellow of 

 any known variety, if we except one found among our 

 seedlings recently, and the seed from which it was pro- 

 duced was not taken from a yellow flower. Again, 

 among the seedlings we annually find types almost 

 like Brenchleyensis, which rarely, if ever, produces seed, 

 and which we have never attempted to save. Yet we 

 get flowers from the first flowering of every bed of seed- 

 lings almost identical. The same is true in every respect 

 with John Bull, a standard white variety. "We are, 

 therefore, forced to believe that new forms result from 

 conditions little understood. Certain it is that good 

 cultivation, in a congenial soil and climate, will be the 

 best rewarded. 



There is no other pleasure in gardening equal to 



that which comes from the growing of Gladiolus from 



seed. The certainty of getting some remarkably fine 



varieties is absolute ; that in a bed, no matter how large, 



8 



