September 26, 1872. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



233 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 

 of 



Mouth 



26 

 27 

 28 

 29 

 80 

 1 



Day 



ol 



Week, 



Th 



F 



S 



Son 



M 



Tn 



W 



SEPT. 26— OCT. 2, 1872. 



Rudbeck died, 1702. 



18 Sunday after Trinity. Michaelmas 



[Day. 

 Robert Bakewell died. 



Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit, Floral, 

 [ and General Meeting. 



Average Tempera- 



Rain in 



ture near London. 



43 years. 



Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



65.7 



43.8 



54.7 



21 



65.3 



44.6 



55.0 



24 



65.1 



44.0 



54.5 



22 



65.5 



44.8 



54.9 



26 



65.0 



43.3 



54.2 



24 



63.4 



44.7 



54.1 



21 



64.4 



43.9 



54.1 



19 



Snn 

 Rises 



Sun 



Sets. 



m. h. I m. h. 

 55 at 5 , 49 af 5 



47 

 45 

 42 

 89 

 '36 

 31 



Moon 

 Rises. 



rn. h. 

 88 11 

 morn. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m, h. 

 55 af 3 



Days. 

 23 

 24 

 25 

 26 

 27 

 28 

 « 



Clock Day 

 after of 

 Sun. Year 



270 

 271 

 272 

 273 

 274 

 275 

 270 



From observations taken near London during forty-three vears, the average day temperature of the week is 61.9° ; and its night temperature 

 44.1°. The greatest heat was 79", on the 27th and 29th, 1882 ; and the lowesteold 23°, on the 28th and 80:h, 1S36, and 29th, 1842. The greatest fall of 

 rain was 1.68 inch. 



GLADIOLUS CULTUBE. 



HIS splendid autumn flower lias in the pre- 

 sent year been represented at the metro- 

 X>olitan exhibitions as it has never been be- 

 fore, and amateurs especially have far sur- 

 passed their previous productions. This re- 

 sult is mainly due to the spirited manner in 

 which the culture of this flower has been 

 taken up, owing to the liberal prizes offered 

 by the Boyal Horticultural and Metropolitan 

 Floral Societies. 

 Not only is the Gladiolus desirable as an exhibition 

 flower, but it is also very useful for in-door decoration, 

 either alone or mixed with the long fronds of the com- 

 moner Ferns. Cut spikes may be placed in bottles of 

 water and set in the conservatory, care being taken to 

 hide the bottles with the foliage of other plants. Gladioli 

 succeed well in pots, and grown in that way are specially 

 adapted for greenhouse and conservatory decoration. 



It is unnecessary to again enter into all the details of 

 culture. The ground should be well trenched and ma- 

 nured in the autumn, so that it may have the benefit of 

 exposure to all the winter frosts. Planting should be 

 performed in March and April when the ground is dry. 

 During hot weather in summer water well, and mulch 

 over the roots with decayed manure. As soon as the 

 spikes appear secure them to sticks ; if this be not done 

 at once a gale of wind may throw numbers of them on 

 their sides, and cause irretrievable damage. The first 

 flowers will appear about the end of July. I had the 

 best spikes this year about that time and the beginning of 

 August. Of course the time of flowering depends on that 

 of planting, and the situation in which the bulbs are 

 planted. By planting a few about the end of February 

 in a south border, and selecting early-flowering sorts, such 

 as Shakspeare, Eeine Victoria, Madame Furtado, Princess 

 of Wales, &c, the first spikes would come in about the 

 1st of July ; and by planting successionally a continual 

 display may be kept up until October. In planting do 

 not omit a small quantity of sand round each bulb. 



Upon the whole this has not been a very favourable 

 season for the Gladiolus. Much rain and cold change- 

 able weather told upon the plants up to midsummer, but 

 I have not seen any disease amongst them ; a few became 

 prematurely yellow, but on pulling them up, as I in- 

 variably do, the bulbs were perfectly sound; indeed I 

 cannot say that I have had any diseased plants at all 

 since commencing the culture of this flower. Many 

 valuable roots have died off when the plants were in full 

 growth, but this, I do not doubt, is to be attributed to 

 local causes, and not to disease. The best way is to pull 

 such plants up, and throw them away ; the bulbs in most 

 cases will be sound, but all the fibrous roots will be found 

 dead. I would advise all who have a good stock of bulbs 

 to pull up and throw away all sickly-looking plants ; 

 this is now my own practice. "When first commencing 

 Gladiolus culture I used to pot all such roots, and in this 

 way have saved them. The potting material used was 



No. 600.— Vol. XXIII., New Series. 



turfy loam, leaf mould, sand, and a small portion of 

 decayed manure. The greatest trial to those taking up 

 the culture of the Gladiolus for the first time is losing 

 the plants when in healthy and luxuriant growth ; it is 

 bad enough to plant seemingly healthy and sound bulbs, 

 and find that the plants do not appear above ground at 

 all. The purchasers of new Boses, Dahlias, Pelargoniums, 

 &c, if they give their plants anything like justice, are 

 sure to keep them, losses seldom occurring. However, 

 the enthusiastic cultivator will triumph over every dif- 

 ficulty, and will the more highly value those spikes which 

 arrive at a high stage of perfection. 



I would also draw attention to the lifting of the bulbs 

 after flowering is over. The end of October is the best 

 time to commence. Some cultivators lift the plants 

 bodily up, and plant them in a dry place amongst soil, 

 cocoa-nut fibre, or some similar material. I do not ad- 

 vise this plan ; the best way is to cut the spikes over at 

 once, and put the bulbs in a dry place, where they should 

 be spread out, and then stored away. I wrap each sort 

 up in paper separately, and place them all in a box, where 

 they take up but little room. They should be kept in a 

 cool place during winter, but do not let the frost get at 

 them. In digging up the roots, the bulblets which cluster 

 in greater or less numbers round the large bulbs should 

 be saved by themselves, and potted at once, if the pots 

 can be plunged over the rims in a cold frame during the 

 winter. If this mode is not convenient place a small 

 quantity of sand with each sort, and wrap the whole up 

 in paper ; they may thus be kept with the old buIDS, and 

 if planted out in March, they will make very fine flower- 

 ing bulbs the second year. 



I will now make a few remarks on the new varieties 

 of this season sent out by M. Souchet. From what I 

 have seen here and elsewhere, there is but little new 

 or good amongst them ; indeed some of them are 

 merely repetitions of the old sorts. Beatrix is a good 

 white flower, and specially noticed by the Bev. H. H. 

 Dombrain as being very fine iu my stand at the Crystal 

 Palace, but if I had labelled it Norma no one would 

 have known the difference ; and the spike of Beatrix was 

 not nearly so good as that of Norma exhibited by Mr. 

 Dombrain at South Kensington the previous week. 

 Minerve is similar to Phidias. I plucked a single flower 

 from each variety, and placed them together, and could 

 not say which was the one and which the other. Vir- 

 ginalis, again, is rather paler than Mary Stuart, and 

 much like it, but does not produce such a long handsome 

 spike. Jupiter is new in colour — a fiery crimson — and if 

 the spikes are not large, the flowers are, and it is an 

 acquisition. Phoebus, Mr. Dombrain has spoken highly 

 of. I have not seen it yet, but a spike exhibited by him 

 at South Kensington did not seem to be honoured with a 

 certificate. M. Souchet has sent out in former years 

 many splendid varieties, and we owe him many thanks 

 _for them. I hope that those put in commerce from his 

 establishment next season will maintain his reputation; 

 the present batch has signally failed to do so. 



There have been many very fine flowers exhibited 

 No. 1252.— Vol. XLVIIL, Old Series. 



