478 



Garden and Forest. 



[October i, 1890. 



made not only in the size and color of the flowers, but also in 

 the vigor of constitution which characterizes many of the newer 

 kinds. 



Mr. Kelway stated that he had grown and bred Gladioli for 

 nearly sixty years, but it was not until 1857 that he took up their 

 cultivation and improvement in earnest. His cultural direc- 

 tions were simple : a light, deep soil, the ground to be roughly 

 dug and manured in October and allowed to remain thus till 

 February, when the manure should be turned in and the 

 corms planted about three inches deep, eight inches apart in 

 the row and eighteen inches between each row. They should 

 be lifted soon after the flowers fade and before the leaves turn 

 yellow. They are less satisfactory if allowed to remain in the 

 ground longer than this. They should be dried in the sun and 

 afterward. stored in a dry, cool room or shed for the winter. 



By selecting the kinds and planting the bulbs in succession 

 Mr. Kelway has these plants in flower from July till November. 

 For decorative purposes the flowers are of great value. A 

 large vase filled with the huge spikes of bright colored flowers 

 is a delightful picture, and the flowers remain good for a fort- 

 night or more. Mr. Kelway 's exhibits of Gladioli at the Lon- 

 don and provincial shows invariably open people's eyes. Yet 

 the plants are not much grown, notwithstanding the small 

 amount of trouble they give. Most inexperienced growers here 

 fail with Gladioli through mistakes in harvesting and storing 

 the bulbs. 



The Nanceianus varieties possess the useful characters 

 of hardiness and a preference for remaining in the ground 

 undisturbed from year to year. A celebrated grower stated 

 at the meeting that he had had some of Lemoine's hy- 

 brids (Lemoinei) undisturbed in the ground from six to eight 

 years, and that where one bulb was at the time of planting 

 there is a large clump now. Unquestionably we have in them 

 the foundation of ajnost valuable race of garden plants. They 

 are only beginnings as yet, but unless they differ in this respect 

 from the Gandavensis varieties a few more years will work a 

 great improvement. The history of his hybrid Gladioli, as told 

 by Monsieur Lemoine himself, is most interesting. He started 

 in 1875 with G. purpureo-auratus, a species brought from 

 Natal to England in 1870. This has a spike two to three feet 

 high, arched above, the flowers small, cupped, and colored 

 dull vellow, with a blotch of purple on the lower segment. It 

 proved perfectly hardy in England, and increased rapidly if 

 left in the ground. Lemoine crossed it with the hybrid G. 

 Gandavensis, which had been raised from G. psitlacinus and 

 G. cardinalis. From this cross he obtained Victor Lemoine 

 and Marie Lemoine, the former with salmon-pink, the latter 

 cream-yellow flowers. These obtained first-class certificates, 

 and were distributed in 1880. The largeness of flower and 

 number on a spike of Gandavensis had yet to be infused into 

 the new race, so the first hybrids were crossed with it again, 

 and every year about ten new varieties were thus obtained, 

 until altogether sixty of them, distinct in form and color, and 

 showing considerable variety in both these characters, had 

 been named and distributed. The consanguinity of the 

 whole of these was always apparent, the cupped flower, 

 and a dark blotch surrounded by a clear space of yellow 

 on the lower segment, being characteristic of them all. 

 Colors of every shade, from yellow to purple, and blended 

 in the most remarkable manner, had been the outcome of 

 crossing a dull yellow-flowered species with the scarlet-flow- 

 ered G. Gandavensis. So far the hybrids are known as G. 

 Lemoinei. Then M. Lemoine began with G. Saundersii, intro- 

 duced from the Cape, and flowered for the first time at Kew 

 in 1877. It is figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 5873. This 

 species is remarkable for its short, curved, somewhat slender 

 spike, bearing a few large flowers which have reflexed seg- 

 ments, and colored pale scarlet, white and pink. It is quite as 

 hardy as G. purpureo-auratus. In 1882 Max Leichtlin crossed 

 G. Gandavensis with G. Saundersii, which resulted in seed- 

 lings with stout spikes, large open flowers, fully four inches 

 across, and showing considerable variety of color. These are 

 supposed to have been secured by an American nurseryman, 

 and it is possible that they or their progeny are the fine seed- 

 lings from Messrs. Hallock & Son, noted by me a week or two 

 ago as being in flower at Kew. 



Monsieur Lemoine crossed G. Saundersii with some of the 

 best of the varieties of G. Lemoinei'ixi 1883. When G. Saundersii 

 was the seed-parent very few seeds were obtained, and from 

 them came the two large-flowered, richly colored seedlings 

 known as President Carnot and Maurice de Vilmorin. When 

 one of the seedlings of G. Lemoineiwas pollinated from G. Saun- 

 dersii there were plenty of seeds. Thus the new race known as 

 Nanceianus was originated, and in 1889 nine of the seedlings 

 were named and distributed, whilst a large number of seed- 



lings have not yet been sent out. The king of the lot is that 

 called President Carnot. Its spikes are six feet high, the 

 flowers seven inches across, the segments spreading and open, 

 whilst the color is cherry-red, striped with carmine, the lower 

 segment having a large scarlet blotch surrounded by a band 

 of white. 



Monsieur Lemoine claims for his new seedlings a hardier and 

 better constitution than that of L. Gandavensis. They thrive in 

 almost any kind of soil and do not require lifting in autumn ; 

 they are not influenced by unfavorable seasons to the same 

 extent as L. Gandavensis. They bear and invite close inspec- 

 tion ; the more one examines them the more beautiful they 

 appear, and they show a wonderful range of color. 



Of the seedlings shown by Monsieur Lemoine the following 

 were the most noteworthy : 



Baudin, flowers large, scarlet, with a yellow blotch and 

 crimson throat. 



M. de Vilmorin, purplish lavender, flaked with brick red 

 and yellow. 



Neue Bleue, flowers deep violet, blackish purple in the 

 throat ; they were one and a half inches across. This was the 

 most striking novelty exhibited, being almost blue in color. 



E. V. Hallock, flowers large and open, colored cream- 

 yellow, with a blotch of rich maroon on the lower segment. 



Crozy fils, bright crimson, white toward the base and 

 lined with white. 



M. Lefebvre, large flowers, colored raspberry red, speckled 

 with crimson and blotched with white. 



Alice Wilson, blush white, flaked and blotched with crim- 

 son ; a very good variety. 



Masque de fer, flowers small, the four outer segments 

 colored blood crimson, the inner pair smaller and deeper in 

 color. 



Pactole, sulphur yellow, darker in the throat, with a crim- 

 son blotch. 



It may be said of these seedlings originated by Monsieur 

 Lemoine that their most striking feature is the richness and 

 extraordinary shades of color they show, and he is to be con- 

 gratulated on what he has accomplished with this race of 

 plants in so short a time. 



London. W. Watson. 



Cultural Department. 



Bulbs for the Greenhouse. 



Scilla Clusii, now offered in quantity, is a really desirable 

 winter-flowering bulb. We have cultivated it for the past 

 three years, and have found that the bulbs may be had in 

 flower from Christmas onward by starting them in succession. 

 S. Clusii is, I believe, a native of Algeria, and, like all bulbs 

 from that region, is not hardy, but succeeds well in an ordi- 

 nary greenhouse or with window culture. A good-sized flow- 

 ering bulb will need a six-inch pot and an abundance of water 

 when about to flower. S. Clusii seeds freely, and, what is 

 of more importance, the seeds germinate readily and make 

 strong flowering bulbs the second or third year if treated lib- 

 erally. 



i". Peruviana resembles the above in many respects, ex- 

 cept that it is a giant by comparison. This is not a South 

 American plant at all, but is a native of south Europe. It is 

 generally hardy in English gardens, but not so here in the 

 eastern states, though it is a pity, for the immense pyramidal 

 heads of bright blue flowers are very ornamental together 

 with the thick, broad green leaves, which form a fine setting 

 for the spike of flowers. S. Peruviana, however, has one 

 fault that may tell against it in the opinion of many cultivators 

 — that is, it never flowers two years in succession ; it seems to 

 need a whole year's rest after the effort of producing its large 

 spike of flowers. 



Or?iithogalum Arabicum is another bulb which we have 

 grown for several years, and which has been recently distrib- 

 uted in quantity. When one can get this plant in flower, it is 

 the best of the genus. The flowers are large, pure white, with 

 a dark olive-green centre, usually described as black. This 

 plant has the same fault as that of the Scilla above referred to 

 — it is impossible to flower it annually. We have grown some 

 thirty bulbs, and every second year all that were large enough 

 produced fine spikes of flowers, and just as surely did we 

 never get a flower the year after. This is the more remark- 

 able as the bulbs, many of them, were the offsets formed 

 from the older bulbs and grown on. Had they been all of the 

 same age or obtained at the same time it would not be sur- 

 prising ; but it appears that, under cultivation at least, it is the 

 nature of the plant to abstain from flowering every second 



