October i, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



477 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



LAST Tuesday an opportunity was afforded to horticulturists 

 interested in the subject to compare the two garden 

 races of Gladioli, known by the names of the Gandavensis 

 and the Nanceianus races. This last is of only recent origin, 



diet with respect to the merits of the two races of Gladioli as 

 represented by the flowers exhibited was that whilst the Nan- 

 ceianus varieties were first in interest, they fell a long way be- 

 hind the Gandavensis race in point of form, size and richness 

 of color in the flowers. 



It would be difficult to find in the whole range of the great 

 Irid order any flowers equal in richness and beauty to such 

 Gladioli as Leonard Kelway, Mont Blanc, Baroness Burdett 



Fig- 59- — Rosa Watsoniana. — See page 476. 



having been raised by Monsieur Lemoine, of Nancy, and dis- 

 tributed last year. The Royal Horticultural Society had in- 

 vited Monsieur Lemoine and Mr. Kelway, the famous grower 

 of the Gandavensis race, to read papers on, and make an 

 exhibition of, these two races of Gladioli. The result was a 

 most interesting and edifying exhibition of beautiful flowers, 

 and the production of two papers of the greatest value and 

 importance to cultivators of the Gladiolus. The general ver- 



Coutts, Baron Schroeder or even than Gandavensis itself. 

 Spikes as thick as a man's thumb, bearing about two feet of 

 flowers, of which twelve or more are open at the same time, 

 are common with Gladiolus growers now. Twenty years ago 

 the spikes of the best kinds were not nearly so stout, and four 

 or six flowers open at once were considered good. Mr. Kel- 

 way, Messrs. Burrell & Sons, of Cambridge, and one or two 

 other growers are to be thanked for the great improvement 



