May 1 6, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



139 



-Hymenocallis Palmeri. 



A Hybrid Poplar — Populus Steiniana. — Mr. BornmuUer, the 

 Inspector ot the Botanic Garden at Belgrade, figures and de- 

 scribes in the last number of the Gartenjlora a Poplar found by 

 him on the western coast of the Black Sea, near Varna. The 

 young branches are described as hoary when young, after- 

 wards glabrous; buds hoary, petiole compressed; leaves hoary 

 beneath when young, subsequently glabrous, deltoideo-tri- 

 angular, acuminate, lobed, toothed. The flowers and fruit are 

 not known. The tree is named in honor of Mr. Stein, of the 

 Botanic Garden, Breslau. — Gardener s Chronicle. 



Cultural Department. 



The Gladiolus. 



■pEW plants are so easily managed and none 

 will give greater satisfaction in propor- 

 tion to time, labor and money expended 

 than the Gladiolus. It dislikes a stiff, clayey 

 soil, but will thrive in almost any other ; its 

 preference being for one of a moist, sa'ndv 

 nature, or light loam. For the best results', 

 both in flowers or bulbs, fresh soil— that is! 

 sod ground, with the turf nicely turned 

 under to decay— is most desirable. This 

 should have, after jilowing, a surface dress- 

 ing of well-rotted manure, well harrowed in. 

 In light soil the bulbs should be planted four 

 or five inches deep ; in heavy loam two 

 inches of covering will be sufficient. 



Successive plantings on the .same ground 

 should be avoided, and the locality ot the 

 ed should be changed so as not to return 

 to the same spot for at least three years. It 

 is the better plan to make the ground very 

 ricli for a desired crop this year and plant 

 Gladiolus on it the next. This plan cannot 

 be well carried out in small gardens, but 

 practice should conform to it as nearly as 

 possible. 

 The time for planting is the first considera- 

 tion in Gladiolus culture and its 

 importance is almost wholly 

 overlooked. In spring-time we 

 rush into gardening with the first 

 favorable weather and try to do 

 all our planting at once, but a 

 succession of flowers is what the 

 amateur should aim at. This 

 applies to all plants in the flower 

 garden, but with more force to the Gladiolus 

 than to almost any other, because the 

 flowers that one bulb will produce are so 

 quickly gone that a succession can only be 

 kept up by repeated plantings. The spring 

 fever in gardening creates a desire to have 

 everything at the earliest possible moment, 

 whether seasonable or not, and earlv plant- 

 ing of the Gladiolus brings the flowers in 

 the very hot, dry weather ot our mid-sum- 

 mer, when in its natural hal)itat it flowers in 

 the rainy season. For perfect flowers a moist 

 atmosphere is necessary ; to that end the 

 l)ulbs should be planted from the first to the 

 middle of July, and they will then come into flower about 

 the first of October, when the days are cool and the 

 evening air moist. Any given variety coming into 

 flower at that time will give spikes of' blooms much 

 larger and stronger and the colors will be far better than 

 if the same are produced in mid-summer. A suc- 

 cession of bloom may be kept up from July until frost 

 by planting every two weeks, commencing as soon as 

 the ground is in a suitable condition to work. 



Selection is a matter of taste. As a rule we should 

 grow such as increase moderately fast and are con- 

 spicuous for positive colors, well defined markings, and 

 for long well formed spikes. Having secured such a 

 stock, it may be increased to any extent by growing the 

 small bulbs or Ijulblets that form at the base ot the new 

 bulb. These are produced in greater or less quantities 

 on different varieties. Some will average a hundred 

 per year, others scarcely any. The liglft colors have 

 less vitality, as a rule, than the dark ones, and con- 

 sequently do not rapidly reproduce. This will in a 

 great measure account for the marked difference in 

 the prices of the named sorts ; it will also account 

 for the rapid increase of the more common varieties and 

 the sudden disappearance of those greatly prized. Choice 

 varieties are usually short lived, and the only way to keep 

 up the stock is by bulblets, while the more common ones 

 will rapidly increase by division. Old bulbs of some of our 

 best named varieties will not produce good flowers, if, indeed, 

 they produce any ; this is particularly the case with Shake- 

 speare andOphir. They invariably give their finest spikes the 

 second or third year from bulblets. Consequently the bulblets 

 of all favorite sorts should be saved and planted each spring, 



