November 16, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



373 



Bhaded, still the plants will grow freely enongh in any ordinary 

 Boil. — H. J. C, Sackicood Gardens, Basingstoke. 



GLADIOLUS CULTURE. 



The Bnbjeot of this article holds, and I think justly, the 

 highest position amongst autumn flowers, for it has now been 

 brought to a high state of perfection, and some of the varieties 

 already sent out will not easily be surpassed. Of course I do 

 not mean to say there is no room for improvement — there is ; 

 for instance, we have yellow flowers, but a clear yellow with 

 the flower and spike of Madame Fartado is very desirable. 

 What an acquisition would also be a variety with the colour of 

 Lord Byron and the flowers and spike of Orphee ; and so, too, 

 would be flowers of other colours which we have not yet suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining. 



Seedlings are easily raised, but it is not so easy to obtain a 

 first-class variety with a good constitution and superior to those 

 already in commerce. There have been a few good varieties 

 raised in England, but the stock of them is very limited ; 

 indeed, I cannot name a single flower that has been sent out 

 as yet in this country of any value to an exhibitor. The new 

 ■varieties raised in France and grown by M. Souchet, can be 

 obtained by the dozen from any seedsman in England, and it 

 is on him that we must as yet depend for new varieties. If 

 we do get a good many worthless sorts sent over every year, 

 there are always a few really good flowers amongst them, and 

 we must be content to weed out the bad ones as we do with 

 the Eoses. Some of the varieties have a decided tendency to 

 degenerate in this country; others, again, seem to improve. I 

 believe that in our anxiety to obtain the finest possible spikes 

 we destroy the constitution of the plants by overfeeding. Under 

 snoh circumstances many of the bulbs deteriorate, whereas if 

 differently treated they maintain their position. 



I can safely affirm that some of the French varieties have 

 improved with me ; of Madame Dombrain, for instance, I 

 thought little the first year it was sent out, and this season, 

 thongh an unfavourable one, it was finer than I ever had it 

 before. Madame Desportes, sent out the same season, was 

 magnificent, but I have not had a good spike of it since. Some 

 varieties succeed better in unfavourable seasons than others, 

 and I sometimes find that those varieties which flourish in a 

 wet season will not do so in a dry, hot year ; thus we must not 

 be too hasty in discarding a variety that for the moment may 

 be unpromising. 



Another statement I ought to make is this, that many new 

 sorts sent out at the highest price will not grow under any cir- 

 cumstances ; they will sometimes grow in a promising manner 

 at first, and ultimately go off in decline, dying-eft' while in 

 apparently luxuriant health when the first flowers are on the 

 point of opening. To be thus disappointed after months of 

 unceasing care is most disheartening to the beginner, but the 

 experienced cultivator makes up his mind to a certain number 

 of losses annually. 



I have had much success in the culture of the Gladiolus. I 

 grow every good variety that is sent out, and a considerable 

 number of bad ones, as well as hundreds of seedlings every 

 year, and in my opinion no other autumn flower can be com- 

 pared to this for grace and beauty. The Dahlia and Holly- 

 hock are indispensable for the adornment of large gardens in 

 autumn, but in small gardens they can seldom be introduced 

 with advantage, and are of but little use for decorative pur- 

 poses iu-doors ; but in no garden, however small, if the soil is 

 suitable, can the Gladiolus be out of place, and few subjects 

 are better adapted for being arranged in vases for the drawing- 

 room, or for the dinner-table. During August and September 

 this flower is produced in the greatest profusion, although by 

 early and late planting a sufficient number of spikes may be 

 obtained in July and October. The Gladiolus is admirably 

 adapted for exhibition in autumn, and will be grown for this 

 purpose as long as societies give suflioient encouragement ; and 

 what a striking contrast they form to the long formal lines and 

 dumpy appearance of stands of Dahlias and cut blooms of 

 Hollyhocks ! 



Whether Gladioluses are grown for exhibition or for general 

 decorative purposes, the ground must be prepared for them by 

 deep trenching and heavy manuring the previous autumn. 

 No doubt a light sandy loam is that best adapted for the Gla- 

 diolus, and for such soil cow manure is the best ; if it is a stiff 

 loam, plenty of road-scrapings or sand may be incorporated 

 with it, and stable manure should be used, but in every ease 

 the manure ought at least to be 6 inches beneath the surface. 



In fine weather during winter, and when the ground is dry, the 

 surface may be lightly forked over. Choose a fine dry day 

 about the middle of March to plant the first lot of bulbs to 

 come in earliest. Do it thus : — Stretch a line across the border, 

 and with a hoe draw four drills a foot apart ; in these drills 

 place the bulbs, also a foot apart, with a little sand over them, 

 and then fill in the drills, so that there may be 2 inches of 

 mould over the crown of the bulb. A space of 2 feet 6 inches 

 should be allowed between the outside rows of each bed, to 

 allow a man to get down with a water-pot without injaring the 

 plants. The sticks should be put in at an early stage of 

 growth, as, if this is delayed, not only does the plant incur the 

 risk of being damaged by the wind, but the roots are injured 

 by pushing the sticks into the ground. To prolong the bloom- 

 ing period, plant a few bulbs every fortnight until the first 

 week in June. 



As soon as dry weather sets in the watering-pot must be 

 used, and to prevent evaporation mulch the beds with decayed 

 frame manure. It is as well to state that when ground is 

 highly manured there is always great danger of overwatering ; 

 even in very hot weather I seldom water the beds oftener than 

 twice a-week, and then I do not use manure water. 



The spikes should be fastened to the sticks as they appear, 

 and this is nearly all the attention they require. Some growers 

 shade the spikes to prolong the bloom, but the colours are 

 brighter when the spike is freely exposed. If required for in- 

 door decoration the spikes should be cut as soon as the first 

 three flowers are expanded ; the others will open in the water. 



The best time to dig up the bulbs is towards the end of 

 October, when a dry day should be chosen. Cut the stalks off 

 as they are lifted, and place each sort with the label in an 

 empty flowet-pot ; the small bulbs or spawn to be found at the 

 base of the bulbs should be saved if an increase in the stock is 

 desired. The pots must be placed in a dry airy position for a 

 week or two, and if they are in the way, wrap each sort 

 separately in a sheet of paper and pack all of them away in 

 a box secure from frost. 



The Gladiolus is also well adapted for pot culture, and fine 

 spikes are obtained m this way. When thus grown the plants 

 in flower may be removed to any desirable position, and are 

 exceedingly effective in the greenhouse, in a conservatory 

 among Ferns, or placed where the spikes rise above the foliage 

 of plants not in flower. It is well to grow a few bulbs in pots 

 to fill up blanks in the beds, say eight or ten to every hundred 

 planted out. The best compost for the Gladiolus in pots is 

 turfy loam of a light sandy nature three parts, one part rotted 

 manure, and one of leaf mould, with a proportion of sand 

 larger or smaller as the loam is light or heavy. Pot one bulb 

 in the centre of a 6-inch pot, and when the plant has grown 

 6 inches, shift it again into an 8-inch pot. The pots should 

 stand out of doors in an open position, but sheltered from 

 cutting winds. 



I append to this a list of the best sorts for exhibition. The 

 best of the new ones for 1870-71 are Edith Dombrain, Horace 

 Vernet, Nestor, Phidias, Sir J. Frankhn, and Talisman. Of 

 older sorts 1 recommend Armide, Adolphe Brongniart, Delica- 

 tissima, Etendard, Eugene Scribe, Falton, Galilee, Homere, 

 Horace, James Yeitch, Lacepede, Madame Easseville, Madame 

 Desportes, Madame Furtado, Mareohal Vaillant, Marie Dumor- 

 tier, Mary Stuart, Meyerbeer, Legouve, Ophir, Orphee, Princess 

 Mary of Cambridge, Princess Clotilde, Madame Dombrain, 

 Eosa Bonheur, Eosea perfecta, Eossini, Schiller, Shakespere, 

 Sir W. Hooker, Ulysse, and Virgile. — J. Douglas. 



THE CULTURE OF THE CYCLAMEN. 



I OBTAINED a packet of seed in February last, and sowed it 

 in a shallow seed-pan, using sandy loam and a little well- 

 decayed cow manure, with a covering of silver sand after sow- 

 ing. I then placed the pan in a gentle bottom heat, and the 

 young leaves soon made their appearance. As soon as the 

 seedlings had made two leaves I potted them in thumb- pots 

 and placed them near the glass, giving them very little water, 

 but not allowing them to become dust dry. They soon filled 

 the pots with roots. I then gave them a shift into 60-sized 

 pots and let them remain till spring. 



When the bedding plants were taken from the cold frames at 

 the end of May I gave the young plants another shift, and let 

 them remain in the cold frame all the summer months, keep- 

 ing them well watered and slightly shaded in very hot weather. 

 At the end of September I put them in 6 inch pots and placed 

 them in a warm pit ; very soon they began to show their flowers, 



