128 Gladiolus Culture. 



Gladiolus, and therefore the moment the workmen of M. Souchet 

 see a trace of the pest they take means to catch it as described, jars 

 of water and oil being always kept at hand. That is only one 

 enemy — vers llancs are worse. Of what a vile opponent this is 

 some idea may be formed, when I relate what precautions M. 

 Souchet is obliged to take against it, even for the sake of enjoying 

 a few Rhododendrons. He has built a nice private house near his 

 Gladiolus grounds, and wishing to have a couple of beds of these 

 shrubs within view of the windows near the garden, he has had to 

 build strong cemented walls deep into the earth around each bed, 

 and fill in the bottom with a deep bed of fine sand, so as to guard 

 against the entrance of this dreaded worm into the bed. But it is 

 among his bulbs that most is to be feared. It is simply the larva 

 of the cockchafer, dangerous here in its perfect state also. He 

 employs a great number of people to gather them at the egg- 

 depositing season, has the larvae picked up after the plough, and one 

 way or another avoids their ravages, though at great cost of time 

 and money. 



The soil is a very sandy, not a fluiFy one, observe, but one with 

 some holding power, and yet when you get a dry bit of a clod of it, 

 and crumble it fine on a silk glove, you find that most of it sinks 

 through to the palm of your hand, in the form of nearly impalpable 

 sand. Somewhat the same kind of soil occurs in many parts of 

 England, and is always remarkably favourable to the growth of 

 bulbs, alpine, and rare herbaceous plants, &c. Here it is well- 

 manured, and pretty rich and deep, from having been long used as 

 kitchen-garden ground. They prefer horse manure, and that as 

 well rotted as possible. The time of planting is, perhaps, one of 

 the most important things to be acquainted with, and they do it 

 here from April till the early part of June. This late time is not 

 often resorted to, however, though the bulbs may then be planted 

 with safety. They prefer the beginning of May for the general 

 and the safest planting. The medium-sized bulbs give the best 

 flowers as a rule, the biggest bulbs often breaking into several heads. 

 To plant at various times of course will lead to a succession of 



