October 17, 1S72. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



301 











WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



of 



Month 



Day 



of 



Week. 







Average Tempera- 



Rain in 



Sun 



Sun 









Clock 



Day 



OCTOBER 17—23, 1872. 





ture near London. 



43 yearH. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Sun. 



Year. 











Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. s. 





17 



Th 







58.8 



40.7 



49.8 



19 



29 af 6 



Oaf 5 



41 af 5 



7 7 



15 



14 41 



2.11 



18 



E 



RT r.nirp. 





60.4 



40.7 



50.6 



21 



31 6 



58 4 



1 6 



27 8 



16 



14 53 



292 



19 



S 



Twilight ends, 6.52 E.St. 





59.4 



41.7 



50.5 





33 6 



56 4 



25 6 



46 9 



17 



15 3 



293 



20 



Sun 



21 Sunday after Trinity. 





59.0 



39.2 



49.1 



20 



35 6 



54 4 



55 6 



1 11 



18 



15 IS 



294 



21 



M 







58.4 



39.5 



49.0 



18 



37 6 



52 4 



85 7 



after. 



19 



15 23 



295 





Tn 







58.9 



42.4 



50.6 



23 



38 6 



50 4 



23 8 



7 1 



20 



15 32 



296 



23 



W 





5S.2 



39.8 



49.0 



23 



40 6 



48 4 



23 9 



52 1 



21 



15 40 



297 



From observations taken near London during 



forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 59.0°; anc 



its night temperature 



40.6° 



. The 



greatest heat was 69°, on the 22nd, 1S03 



; and the lowest cold 17°, on 



he 23rd, 



1859. The greatest fall of rain -was 



0.96 inch. 







GLADIOLUS CULTURE. 



E. DOUGLAS, after giving us an excellent 

 paper on the above flower, invites other 

 growers to detail their experience, and I, 

 for one, am glad to contribute my mite, if 

 the Editors think it worthy of a place. 



"With regard to soil, mine is light and 

 gravelly, and I plant in ground that has 

 been well manured for Dahlias the pre- 

 vious year. To this I also add about 

 4 inches of well-decayed manure, which is 

 thoroughly rnixed with the soil to the depth of 14 inches. 

 Over this I put 2 inches of soil and plant my bulbs, 

 covering each with charcoal dust, which is, I think, supe- 

 rior to sand, being less retentive of moisture, finally 

 covering with about 2 inches of well-pulverised soil that 

 lias been exposed to the winter frosts and is free from 

 manures. Here let me caution amateurs against using 

 turf in their Gladiolus-beds, as it is almost sure to contain 

 wireworms, which are certain destruction to the bulb. 

 Three years ago I lost nearly all my stock through add- 

 ing turf containing this pest, and in my opinion turf is 

 quite unnecessary, as any garden soil, provided it is not of 

 too heavy a nature, will grow Gladioli to perfection if it is 

 well stirred in winter, and a good dressing of well-rotted 

 manure added. With the above treatment many of mine 

 have grown from 5 to 6 feet in height during the past sum- 

 mer, and produced spikes and flowers of very large size. 



Here, in the north, I plant my first lot of bulbs as early 

 in February as the ground will permit, and the- second 

 lot in March, when all danger of severe frost is past. 

 This year my first lot was planted about the middle of 

 February, and the bed was protected with frame-lights 

 that are used for covering Verbenas grown for exhibition 

 in summer. I can cover about a hundred bulbs in this 

 way, and thus they are protected from rain and frost ; 

 if the latter is very severe mats are thrown over the 

 lights. This is much better than raising them in pots, as 

 some do, for it saves all risk of breaking the roots when 

 turned-out of pots. The lights are raised about 6 inches 

 from the soil, and rest on wooden stays, and the whole 

 is equal to a cold frame. 



This early planting is quite necessary to get Gladioli into 

 bloom by the shows, which are held in this district from 

 the middle to the end of August. My first lot of blooms, 

 cut from bulbs planted in February, were ready about the 

 middle of August, and I have had a succession from that 

 time to the end of September from the same plantation, 

 proving, as far as the north is concerned, that it is un- 

 necessary to make several plantings as Mr. Douglas 

 suggests, but to plant as early as possible, for some varie- 

 ties are much later than others, and keep up a succes- 

 sion of bloom till October. It is only in very favourable 

 seasons that bulbs planted in the open ground without 

 any protection can be had in bloom early enough for the 

 shows, except with such early sorts as Shakespeare, 

 Homere, Eomulus, &c. It also proves that Mr. Douglas's 

 garden is at least six weeks earlier than my own. 



No. 603.— Vol. XXIIX, New Series. 



Everyone who grows the Gladiolus must make up his 

 mind to have some losses. The disease they are subject 

 to appears to be quite as great a mystery as the Potato 

 blight ; several after blooming magnificently suddenly 

 turn yellow in the foliage, and on lifting the bulb it 

 is quite worthless. This is particularly the case with 

 Eugene Scribe, Meyerbeer, and Moliere,; I have always 

 to renew these every year with imported bulbs. These 

 imported bulbs generally bloom magnificently the first 

 year, but never so well again ; this is more or less the 

 ease with all the varieties with me, and I should like to 

 know the experience of other growers on this point. I 

 always pot a few seedlings late to fill up any blanks that 

 may occur early in the season, but it is generally after 

 the bloom is over that most losses occur. Up to the pre- 

 sent time I have had very few losses this year. 



With respect to the new varieties, I agree in the main 

 with Mr. Douglas. Minerve is the best I have grown 

 and seen, and a very vigorous grower, although rather 

 short in the spike. Ariadne, described as a " bewitching " 

 variety, is, in my opinion, far from it. It is similar to 

 Dehcatissima, a little paler in colour. I have a spike of 

 Beatrix by me as I write this; it wants substance of 

 petal, and is inferior to Norma and Eurydice. It is not 

 greatly different in colour frsm Madame Desportes, which 

 is not only the best white flower we have, but the best 

 variety ever sent out, as far as my experience goes ; it 

 has been magnificent with me this year. Jupiter was 

 exhibited in Lord Hawke's stand at Bishop Auckland., 

 and in point of size and quality did not compare favour- 

 ably with such fine varieties as Horace Vernet, Legouve, 

 &c, in the same stand ; it is, however, an acquisition in 

 colom'. Phoebus, Ossian, Celemine, and Antigone I have 

 not grown nor seen. 



I should like to have "D., Deal's," opinion of the va- 

 rieties sent out last autumn. Perhaps he will be able to 

 give us an account of the new ones that are coming out 

 this year. I always read with great interest anything 

 thatr he or Mr. Douglas writes on Gladioli or Roses, or 

 any other flower, and we must all look to them as the 

 two foremost amateur growers of Gladioli. I should be 

 glad if each would give a list in the Journal of the best 

 twelve and the second best twelve. Perhaps other growers 

 will also favour us with lists of the same number ; it would 

 be interesting to compare them, and one could form a 

 good conclusion as to which were the best. The follow- 

 ing are what I consider the best — viz. : 



SECOND BEST TWELVE. 



Rossini. 



Rosa Bonheur. 



Moliere (Souchet). 



Minerve. 



Ulysse. 



Armide. 



Laeepede 



Edith Dombrain. 



Virgile. 



Jupiter. 



Homere. 



Madame Vilniorin (Souchet). 



as too late for the north 



IE5.-VOL. XLVIII., Old Series. 



BEST TWELVE. 



1. Madame Desportes. 



2. Adolphe Brongniart, 



3. Meyerbeer. 



4. Eugene Scribe. 



5. Horace Vernet. 



6. Monsieur LegouvS. 



7. Michel Ange. 



8. Madame Furtado (Souchet). 



9. Marie Stuart. 



10. Orphee. 



11. Shakespeare. 



12. Schiller. 



I omit Eurydice and Norma 



No. 1! 



