230 
THD GARD EN WAR GeAg Zeal aNe 
May, 1916 
through specimens from 
southern Europe and west- 
ern Asia, and in 1745 plants 
of this genus began to reach 
them from South Africa, 
which country, by the way, 
has furnished most of the 
important varieties, those 
from which the major part 
of the modern varieties have 
been evolved. 
Souchet achieved his suc- 
cess by crossing these wild 
flowers with a hybrid named 
gandavensis, which was first 
offered to the public in 1841. 
The production of this hy- 
brid was for a long time 
credited to Van Houtte, but 
it is now known that the 
originator was Bedding- 
haus, gardener to the Duke 
of Arenburg, from whom it 
was purchased by Van Houtte, who 
named it in honor of his native city, 
“Glaieul de Gand”—Gladiolus of Ghent. 
By combinations with this hybrid 
Souchet laid the foundation for the 
famous gandavensis strain, from which 
has come so many of our beauties. One 
characteristic of this strain is the large 
fleshy stem, which absorbs sufficient 
water to develop all the buds after the 
spike is cut, and though these hybrids 
have been crossed with wild species as 
well as with other hybrids, gaining 
thereby in form and in color, the result- 
ant progeny invariably bear the stem 
that is peculiar to the type. 
But Souchet was not the only French- 
man who achieved success in the devel- 
opment of this flower, for the renowned 
Victor Lemoine must be credited with 
equally as important work. He gave us 
the Lemoinei, a race with blossoms of 
great brilliancy, which appeared in 1878; 
and in 1889 he introduced another race, 
the Nancieanus, named for the city of 
Nancy. Ata later date Lemoine added 
to his hybrids several of lilac, heliotrope 
and bluish-lavender, of which the best 
Princeps, a well marked hybrid having large bright 
red flowers, but only a few openjng at a time 
On the left is the old Brenchleyensis, bright red, small flowered ; on right, G. primulinus, 
yellow ; in centre, typical modern large flowered form 
known is Baron Joseph Hulot, first seen 
at the Chicago Exposition in 1903. 
About the same time that Souchet and 
Lemoine were conducting their experi- 
ments, Max Leichtlin, of Baden Baden, 
produced a race of large and wide 
opened blossoms of brilliant coloring. 
After working over the derivatives for 
some ten years, Leichtlin passed the 
bulbs to Hallock, at that time the 
leading American specialist, who spent 
about ten years improving the strain 
and then passed the bulbs to John Lewis 
Childs who, in 1893, introduced the sev- 
eral sorts to the gardeners under the 
racial name of Childsi. The develop- 
ment of this strain has continued in the 
Childs nurseries and from it have come 
some of our finest varieties. 
There has been much cross-breeding 
of these three main strains—gandaven- 
sis, Lemoinei, and Childsi—and the de- 
rivatives form the major part of the 
long list of wonderful flowers that are 
now available. They are known collect- 
ively as the late-flowering group, blos- 
soming in midsummer and later. An 
early-flowering group is composed of 
the Colvillei, which was originated in 
the gardens of Mr. Colville, and the 
nanus strain. These are half-hardy 
sorts—that is, they can be left in the 
ground through the winter, if well pro- 
tected by a heavy mulch, and will keep 
without mulching when planted south 
of Washington. They bear small flow- 
ers and have thin stems, and are chiefly 
used for forcing. Still another strain 
has been named precox. It displays its 
precocity by flowering the first year 
from seed, if planted early in the year 
under glass. 
About the time that Childs purchased 
the Leichtlini strain from Hallock, Mr. 
Luther Burbank began experimenting 
with the Gladiolus and produced a num- 
ber of good forms, and between the in- 
spiration of these flowers and Burbank’s 
enthusiasm, a Canadian banker, Mr. 
H. H. Groff, was induced to try his hand 
at cross-breeding these plants. He 
bought Burbank’s seedlings and began 
the work that has given us many of our 
very best sorts. At first these were 
offered to the public in mixtures but 
later the more promising were segre- 
gated and named. 
Contemporary with Burbank and 
Groff, in the development of 
the Gladiolus, was Dr. Van 
Fleet, who won distinction 
by producing a dazzling 
scarlet flower of immense 
size which he named Prin- 
ceps. This variety was first 
exhibited in: 1903, and at 
once gained a leadership 
which it still maintains. 
The results that had been 
achieved stimulated other 
Americans to have a try at 
cross-breeding, though per- 
haps the strongest incentive 
lay.in the high prices that 
had been paid for excep- 
tionally fine varieties. For 
example: Banning, of Ohio, 
thought he saw in one of 
Groff’s seedlings, that had 
come to him in a mixture, a 
promising plant. He sep- 
arated it from its fellows, named. it 
America, and after propagating the 
bulbs for a time sold the bunch toChilds 
for four thousand dollars. Also Dr. Van 
Fleet increased the stock of Princeps a 
bit and passed them to Vaughan for one 
thousand dollars. 
Whatever the stimulus, numerous 
others entered the lists for the possible 
prizes, though it should be stated that 
only a comparative few have as yet been 
prize winners. 
Of our successful hybridizers the 
leading place would probably be ac- 
corded to A. EH. Kunderd, whe has un- 
doubtedly originated more sorts of su- 
perior merit than any other American 
grower, with the possible exception of 
Groff and Childs, and in superiority of 
individual varieties Kunderd has sur- 
passed all others. Besides winning this 
leadership, Kunderd has produced a 
new race which has “ruffled” petals. 
Several of the ordinary varieties show 
a more or less stable tendency to this 
peculiarity, but the Kunderdi are heavily 
fluted and pass the characteristic to 
their progeny. 
Mrs. Francis King, one of the most popular of modern 
varieties ; pinkish, with shadings, and slightly ruffled 
