November 9, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



351 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR, 















Day 



ol 



Month 



Day 















Clock 1 Day 



Week. 



NOVEMBER 9—15, 1871. 



tore near Loudon. 43 years. 



Rises. Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Sun. ' Year. 









Day. 



Niaht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 1 m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m, s. 





9 



Th 



Pkince of Wales Born, 1841. 



60.5 



S3.8 



42.2 



16 



9af7 



20af4 



26 af 2 



25 af 3 



26 



16 4 



313 



10 



P 





60.4 



840 



42.2 



24 



10 7 



19 4 



45 8 



44 3 



27 



15 68 



314 



11 



8 



Martinmas. 



60 2 



34 2 



42.2 



15 



12 7 



17 4 



7 5 



3 4 



28 



15 62 



315 



12 



Son 



23 Sunday after Trinity. 



60.2 



83.8 



42.0 



17 



14 7 



18 4 



34 6 



25 4 



o 



15 45 



316 



IS 



M 





49.9 



85.2 



4i.6 



22 



16 7 14 4 



8 



65 4 



1 



15 36 



317 



14 



To 



Stoke Newinffton Chrysanthemum Show. 



4S.5 



33.8 



41.2 



21 



18 7 



12 4 



18 9 



32 6 



2 



15 27 



318 



16 



W 





49.0 



34.8 



41.9 



19 



19 7 



11 4 



47 10 



12 6 



3 



15 17 



819 



From observationg taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 49 3" 



, and itE 



nipht tem- 



perature 34.2°. The greatest heat was 63', on the 12th, 1841 ; and the lowest cole 



18°, on the 15th, 1868. The greatest faU 



of rain wag 



1.24 inch. 









THE GLADIOLUS IN 1871. 



r; T is said of the peculiar crop of this county 

 (Kent) that it tries a farmer's patience more 

 than any other, and that yon can never cal- 

 culate on your Hops uniil you have the 

 money in your pocket. What Hops are to 

 the Kentish farmer, the Gladiolus is to the 

 gardener who cultivates it — the most un- 

 certain, the most provoking of all liis pets. 

 Meeting my old friend and neighbour Mr 

 E. Banks, of Sholden, the other day, I 

 said, "Well, what about the Gladiolus this year?" His 

 reply was, " I am almost sick and tired of them ; again the 

 disease has attacked mine, and I have lost very many of 

 my best sorts, and yet I cannot give them up." My o^vn 

 experience is of the same character, and they really do try 

 one's patience. Evidently, too, from Mr. Douglas's notes, 

 he and others have experienced a like result, while my old 

 friend Souchet affirms the same. The flower, therefore, 

 must have powerful attractions if, in spite of all this un- 

 certainty, it retains, as it does, its popularity. 



The disease is a mysterious thing, and is, as far as I can 

 judge, very analogous to that which attacks the Potato. 

 It attacks the Gladiolus at particular stages of growth, 

 and is independent of all kinds of soils and methods of 

 culture. A plant will grow well all through the season, 

 will throw up a good spike of bloom, and even after that 

 will be struck with the disease. The foliage wiU turn 

 yeUow, and when the corm is taken up it is all over black 

 spots, which speedily spread, until it all perishes by a spe- 

 cies of dry rot. I had bulbs from which I cut blooms for 

 the Metropolitan Floral Show on August 31st, and yet after 

 that the bulbs perished. That cultivation has nothing 

 to do with the disease I am sure from the fact that, in the 

 same bed and of the same varieties, some have perished 

 and others not : thus, I had five bulbs of Adolphe Brongniart 

 (imported bulbs) ; of these four were sound, one horribly 

 diseased. I had two bulbs of Horace Vernet, the same thing 

 took place ; but what is more singular still, I had bulbs from 

 whence two shoots came, and of course two bulbs were 

 formed ; one of these was perfectly sound, the other gone. 

 The idea entertained by some — amongst others, Mr. Doug- 

 las—that the best blooms were to be obtained from im- 

 ported bulbs, I do not find to be borne out by fact. I had 

 it tested this year, having planted of some varieties bulbs 

 that I had grown myself, others that were imported, and, 

 again, others that were grown from " spawn " by Mr. 

 Banks, and I could not see that there was any noticeable 

 differenoe in them. The theory that this disease is to be 

 attributed to the high breeding of the varieties, or, rather, 

 to the breeding in-and-in, will not, I think, hold good. I 

 have had Brenchleyensis this year attacked by it, and 

 such old flowers as Penelope, while Meyerbeer and Madame 

 Furtado have been free. If it be a disease analogous to 

 the Potato disease, we know that theory did not account for 

 it ; for the Potatoes raised from the seed of wild ones 

 were affected by it, and the commonest and roughest 

 varieties also suffered. I know of no remedy that can be 

 No. 654.— Vol. XXL, Nbw Series. 



suggested for the Gladiolus disease, and I fear that growers 

 must be contented to take their chance. There are, how- 

 ever, I think, two things to be avoided in cultivation — not 

 to allow any fresh manure to come into contact with the 

 bulbs, and not to allow them to suffer from want of water, 

 if the season be dry. 



Complaint has been made as to the number of varieties 

 sent out ol late years by M. Souchet, and I think it is a 

 pity that he should have deviated from his original plan 

 of sending out six or eight each season, but it is to be 

 remembered that he is honest in the matter ; he has his 

 three or four classes arranged according to price, and 

 evidently leads growers to the inference that the best are 

 to be found amongst the four or five high-priced ones. As 

 I have before said, he does not trust to his own judgment 

 in the matter : two or three of those best acquainted with 

 the flower assist him in classif^'ing and arranging the 

 new varieties. Mr. Douglas says only about 25 per cent, 

 are good. Well, that is about what he puts the high- 

 priced at, though sometimes, indeed, it is diflerent ; for 

 example, Nestor, which he places in the lowest class, 

 will, I think, be grown extensively as the best yellow we 

 have ; while Pericles, one of the dearest of last year, I 

 think, will not hold its position, and has not any claim to 

 the place assigned to it. This excessive supply of new 

 varieties of flowers is not confined to the Gladiolus or to- 

 Prance, as the catalogues testify. Much has been said 

 about the English varieties of Gladiolus, but it is a notice- 

 able fact, that, unless in the stands of the raisers, we never 

 see any varieties but Souchet's ; why I do not pretend to 



' say, but the fact remains. 



In answer to many inquiries as to the best varieties of 

 last season, and the probabilities of the present, I am in- 

 clined to place at the head of last year Horace Vernet, 

 flowers of brilliant colour and large size, with a good spike. 



; Sir J. Franklm is a remarkable flower for its novelty of 

 colour ; the spike is hardly sufficiently long. Talisman is 

 another novel flower, but I fear of delicate habit ; and the 

 same, from what I have experienced and heard from others, 

 must be said of Phidias. Edith Dombrain I have seen 

 very beautiful, although my own spikes of it were not 

 large ; it is one of those varieties that do not rapidly in- 



; crease. Souchet told me it was raised ten years ago, but 

 he had not been able to increase it sufficiently to put it in 

 commerce until last season. Primatice comes next ; while,. 

 I think, many will like Nestor. Van Spandouck, although 

 brilliant in colour, is not a first-class flower. Amongst 

 others are some which are exceedingly pretty and orna- 



' mental, and that years ago would have passed muster, but are 

 not equal to one's idea of first-rate flowers. Of the flowers. 



j of 1809 Orphee is, I think, decidedly the best ; Armide is 



I fine ; Delicatissima very pleasing in its novel shade of 

 colour ; Rosea Perfecta often very pretty and useful ; and 

 Rosa Bouheur very fine and vigorous. Robert Fortune is 

 also very fine at times. 



When I was at Fontainebleau at the end of August the 



greater portion of M. Souchet's flowers were out of bloom 



and, indeed, the great bulk of his collection is now grown at 



Montereau, the soil there being much more suitable for it 



No. 1206.— Vol. XLVI„_Old2Serie3. 



