November 21, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



399 



been planted thirty years, and every year bear a great quantity 

 of useful fruit. 



As to sorts, I cannot speak of McLaren's Prolific; but of 

 those I have grown, Carter's Prolific, Northumberland Pill- 

 basket, and the true Fastolf are unquestionably good, and may 

 be depended on. — J. W., Lincoln. 



THE GLADIOLUS DISEASE. 



The pleasure derived from the culture of this lovely autumn 

 flower is to a great extent diminished by the uncertainty 

 that rests on the harvesting of the bulbs, owiug to a malady 

 for which, as far as I can see, there is neither prevention 

 nor cure, but which more or less has troubled, as far as I 

 am aware, every, or nearly every, grower who has ventured 

 on their cultivation. It is more virulent in some seasons than 

 in others, and soil and situation may perhaps mitigate its 

 ravages ; but like the great produce of my native county, hops, 

 it is so uncertain that no one can predicate of the safety of 

 his stock until the bulbs are securely housed. Some years ago 

 the eminent London firm of Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son 

 obtained a very large and valuable collection from France, 

 being determined to cultivate them very extensively ; the bulbs 

 were planted with considerable care, but nearly the whole of 

 the collection was swept away. About ten years ago I planted 

 in a piece of kitchen-garden ground of good quality three beds 

 of about three hundred bulbs. They came up well, but I do 

 not think I lifted half a dozen sound bulbs. My friend Mr. 

 Banks, of Sholden Lodge, Deal, the most extensive amateur 

 grower in England, continually loses large quantities of his 

 bulbs. I saw his beds this year in October, and it was pitiable 

 to see the gaps made in his best beds by the disease, although, 

 as a general rule, it has not, I think, been so prevalent this 

 year as usual. Lord Hawke, who has exhibited the flower so 

 well, says that his own home-saved bulbs have suffered very 

 much, his imported ones not so much. Mr. Douglas did not 

 think he had it, although many of his bulbs went off when 

 they threw up their spike for bloom ; but when I went to his 

 beds we found the first bulb lifted affected by it, although 

 many that I should have pronounced, from the appearance of 

 the foliage, to be diseased, were not so ; while Mr. Lombard, 

 who is or has been a large amateur grower in Dublin, has been 

 compelled to give up his extensive culture of them owing to 

 the same cause. Monsieur Souchet, par excellence the Gladi- 

 olus grower, with all the advantages of soil and the fine climate 

 of France, is oftentimes greatly harrassed by it. Thus, the 

 testimony regarding its existence seems universal. And now 

 what is it ? what causes it ? and can it be remedied ? I have 

 no theory to propound, and can only express my opinion that 

 the reasons adduced for it are inadequate. 



The disease first attacks the corms in the form of small 

 black spots, which gradually spread over the entire corm. 

 Sometimes the layers of the corm are distinctly marked by the 

 black lines which indicate the presence of the disease in a viru- 

 lent form, the foliage having previously exhibited a rusty 

 unhealthy look. When the bulbs are lifted the disease rapidly 

 accelerates its pace until the whole perish of a sort of dry rot, 

 shrivelling-up into a small compass. 



The causes of this decay have been stated to be — 



1st. The high breeding of the flower, and the want of new 

 blood. 



In answer to this, I would reply that I have seen it in a very 

 virulent form in Gladiolus brenchleyensis and Fa.nny Rouget, 

 both raised many years ago, and considered generally to be 

 amongst the hardiest flowers that we have ; while I, at any 

 rate, have found such bulbs as Meyerbeer and Madame Furtado, 

 both highly bred flowers, not so liable to it ; and of the new 

 varieties of 1871, Phcebus, a very highly bred flower, seems 

 to be very vigorous. The same cause has been assigned 

 for the Potato disease, but it is well known that tubers im- 

 ported from Peru have been as virulently affected as any other. 

 All highly bred flowers are more or less delicate, but then 

 the extra care bestowed on them — as in the case of animals 

 — compensates for this. The race horse may be more subject 

 to disease than the cart horse, but then from the difference of 

 treatment it receives its life is quite as good as that of its 

 humbler relative. 



2nd. Too high cultivation. 



It has been said that the quantity of manure used seriously 

 affects the bulbs and engenders disease. If the manure were 

 used fresh there might be some weight in this, but evidence 

 which has come before me disposes of this. Mr. Banks has 



tried experiments with his bulbs. He has planted them 

 in beds without any manure whatever, others in beds with 

 bone dust, others in fresh ground, and yet under all these 

 circumstances the disease has appeared, and most violently of 

 all in the unmarmred beds. I have taken the trouble of exca- 

 vating my beds and laying the manure 5 or 6 inches lower than 

 where the bulbs are planted, and yet the disease has appeared ; 

 while, strangest of all, I have seen over and over again two 

 shoots proceeding from the same bulb, forming two first corms. 

 One of these when taken up has been perfectly sound, the 

 other wholly diseased. 



3rd. Non-ripening of the bulbs. 



This reason is disposed of by the simple fact that the French 

 bulbs are taken up long before they are matured, and that 

 seedlings and small blubs, which are always later in starting, 

 can never be left until they are matured, many of them showing 

 flower even at the end of October, and yet these small and late- 

 flowering bulbs are generally as free from the disease as others. 



4th. Exhaustion of the bulbs. 



This is hardly worth noticing, but a writer in one of our 

 gardening journals devoted two long papers to a consideration 

 of the disease, and actually propounded this as the cause, be- 

 lieving that, like the Hyacinth, the same bulb was lifted from 

 year to year, instead of, as we know, the corm dying and fresh 

 ones being produced ; while the fact that seedlings that have 

 never bloomed have been found affected by the malady is con- 

 clusive proof that exhaustion from flowering could have nothing 

 to do with it. 



I am afraid that those who read this paper will think that I 

 belong to that numerous class of philosophical (save the mark !) 

 writers, who are famous hands at pulling down but build up 

 nothing instead, for really I have nothing to propose. I con- 

 sider it, as I have said, analogous to the Potato disease ; and 

 the analogy is no way disturbed by the fact that we know 

 nothing at all about it, for surely the letters that have appeared 

 in the public papers show that we are as much at sea with 

 regard both to the cause and remedy as we were when it first 

 appeared. So with the Gladiolus disease. Growers may say 

 this is cold comfort. Well, it is. I wish I could give any 

 better. I did try this year two of my beds with powdered 

 charcoal, and I think that they were less affected by disease 

 than the third; but then, I believe, others have tried it with- 

 out any good results. Therefore, as there are drawbacks in 

 every enjoyment — as the worm-i'-the-bud will destroy the 

 bloom of the Rose, as the wireworm will eat through our Car- 

 nations, and black spot destroy our Auriculas, so the grower 

 of the Gladiolus must make up his mind to losses from a dis- 

 ease which he seems powerless to prevent or cure. — D., Deal. 



LABGE-CKOWNED PINE APPLES. 

 I am inclined to think that the process described by Mr. 

 Wipf at page 359 is not likely to be of service to many, if any, 

 of your judicious Pine-growing readers. The value of such 

 slow-producing-sucker sorts as Charlotte Rothschild, Smooth- 

 leaved Cayenne, Black Jamaica, and Prince Albert is too well 

 known to those who grow them for the crowns to be mal- 

 treated in the manner described, as they, with careful treat- 

 ment, within the space of eighteen months produce fruit 

 equal to, if not better, than the plants from which they were 

 detached, a result which could never be derived from those 

 operated upon by the screw. This sunless season, with few 

 opportunities for liberal air-giving, has favoured the produc- 

 tion of large disproportionate tops. A humid stagnant atmo- 

 sphere, and heavy dampings overhead, are, however, the prin- 

 cipal promoters. To insure a modification of undue propor- 

 tions, damping overhead should be discontinued, and atmo- 

 spheric moisture greatly diminished during dull weather. 

 Non-symmetrical unsightly crowns are rarely met with in the 

 stove of the skilful cultivator. — J. M. C. 



SOLANUM^CA PSICASTBUM CULTURE. 

 The best exhibition of this plant that I 



have seen was m 

 Windsor Royal Gardens, grown by the late Mr. Rose, who 

 stated that he grew them on so large a scale because Her 

 Majesty admired them. 



Mr. Rose had them of every shape and height, from 4 inches 

 to above 4 feet, thickly berried ; dwarf plants covering 6-inch 

 pots, and resting on the shelves 9 inches. Mr. Rose and my- 

 self grew them in stiff loam because they do not grow so rank 



