Lemoine also used another Gladiolus species, G. Papilio, 

 the Butterfly Gladiolus species. This had a bluish color with 

 dark throat and yielded purple, violet, and blue-tinted seed- 

 lings. Baron Jos. Hulot, introduced by Lemoine in 1886, 

 is still one of the most popular of the blue-violet Gladiolus. 

 At about the same time that Lemoine was developing the 

 Butterfl\- strain, a German, Max Leichtlin, was e.xperimenting 

 in crossing Gladiolus Saundersii with the old Gandavensis 

 hybrids. His seedlings, because their stalks were short and 

 had a few open blooms, were unpopular in Europe and finally 

 his whole stock was purchased by an American nurseryman, 

 and from this was developed the Childsii strain which was 

 introduced in 1893. These had flowers of huge size and brilliant 

 coloring. The varieties America, Panama, Niagara, Prince 

 .of India, and Columbia are still being grown among these 

 old varieties. At about this same time Lemoine also made 

 crosses between his Lemoinei varieties and the same Glad- 

 iolus Saundersii. His seedlings were almost identical in char- 

 acter with the Childsii varieties. In recent times, since 1900, 

 all of these different strains have been so intercrossed with 

 one another that we can no longer distinguish one type from 

 another among our modern sorts. New forms of Gladiolus 

 are so easily grown from seed and seedling Gladiolus vary 

 so much in character that it is an easy matter for any in- 

 dustrious grower to produce hundreds of thousands of new 

 kinds every year. Each grower then picks from his diverse 

 assemblage of seedlings a few dozens or scores that appeal 

 to him as the most attractive. For instance, Mr. A. E. Kunderd 

 of Goshen, Indiana, has favored particularly the varieties 

 with rufHed or frilled petals and has accordingly emphasized 

 this trait which was not uncommon among the older varieties. 

 Safifrano, introduced by Souchet in the eighties, was distinctly 

 rufifled. Kunderd's first ruffled variety was Kunderdi Glory, 

 introduced in 1907. He has since put out a number of very 

 pretty rufifled sorts such as Marie Kunderd, Golden Frills, 

 E. J. Shaylor, etc. The modern tendency in Gladiolus has 

 been somewhat away from the stiff spikes with closely spaced 

 flowers, which were the delight of the European gardeners 

 of the past generation. Now an opener, more graceful spray 

 effect, with flowers of only moderate size, seem to be preferred. 



