152 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



Septflmber, 1913 



some out of the wav corner, and 

 make additions from time to time. 



Turn over the heap at rej^ular 

 intervals to assist decMuposition. 

 A\'henever house slops are available 

 tip them on the heap 'and thus 

 strengthen the manurial pro]>erties 

 of our ertswhile enemies. But there 

 are biennial and perennial weeds as 

 well as annuals. Do not put these 



MORE GOOD 



THAN 



HI 



THE 



DOCTOR'S 

 MEDICINE. 



Mrs. E. C. BROWN, of I.eddenliall 

 Street, Port .Adelaide, S.A.. writes 

 that her health was so shattered 

 through bad digestion that she felt 

 she would never be well agaiu. 

 She altered her opinion when 

 she wrote this letter, 11/10/12, to 



CLEMENTS 

 TONIC 



CLEMENTS TONIC LTD. 



"YOUR MEDICINE HAS DONE 

 MORE FOR ME THAN DOCTOR'S 

 PRESCRIPTIONS, therefore I send 

 you this letter. Three years ago 

 I had liver complaint in a very bad 

 form, and my digestion was very 

 poor, I had to be very careful what 

 I ate, and instead of being glad 

 when meal times came around, it 

 was the reverse ; for if I took the 

 smallest quantity of food it meant 

 hours of pain tor me. I found 

 myself going under, when ONE 

 OF YOUR PAMPHLETS was placed 

 under my door that prompted me 

 lo gel a boitle of CLEMENTS 

 TONIC from the grocers. Alto- 

 gether, I took SEVEN OR EIGHT 

 BOTTLES OF THAT MEDiCiNE, 

 AND WAS RESTORED TO VERY 

 GOOD HEALTH. 



(Signed) 



Mrs. E. BROWN." 



Irritable nerves, poor and uncer- 

 tain appetite, l;iHSiturte, insomnia 

 or loss of sleep, weariness after a 

 night's rest, sluggish liver for want 

 of exerci-e. indigestion, and con 

 Rtipation arc ofti-n the banes of 

 evf-ryday life. CLEMENTS TONIC 

 assists Nature ti> ki-e|) the human 

 house in order and to remedy 

 the above ev Is. ^'ro^es^ionaI or 

 liu-iness men in any capacity slio\ii<! 

 t yit. AIJ.CilKMisTS& STORK: 

 SKM, IT EVKKVWJIKRH 



on the heap as many of them will 

 recommence "growth instead of de- 

 cayinjj. Do not leave a weed 

 irrowinir any long-cr than the first 

 time you see it large enough to 

 be pulled up. Kven if there is not 

 tiln^ to pull ir^iany, every one 

 taken out allows irjore room for 

 the proper plants to spread into 

 the light and air, and in addition 

 the moisture contained in the soil 

 can be utilised for its right pur- 

 pose. If by chance a weed should 

 escape notice imtil the seed is 

 ready to disperse, grasp the whole 

 head of the plant and burn at 

 once to prevent further mischief. 

 An important point is that, 

 the contents of the heap, wheii 

 scattered on the garden at the time 

 of digging, will enrich the soil by 

 providing the very elements neces- 

 sary to promote the healthy 

 growth of our vegetable and lioral 

 friends ; thus we can follow the 

 golden rule and return good for 

 evil. 



Orisin of the Gladiolus. 



(From. Horticulture). 



Comparing the wild species with 

 the modern hybrids one could 

 hardly believe that the latter were 

 oUsprings of the former. Of the 

 wild species referred to there have 

 so far been discovered 140 or more, 

 a few being natives of Burope and 

 Western A.sia, a few from the 

 mountains of tropical Afr ca; most 

 of them, however, are from Cape 

 Colon}' and Natal. 



The gladiolus is quite an old 

 flower, for we find as far back as ■ 

 1596 Ciladiolus segatum was culti- 

 vated, and in 1629 Gladiolus Bv- 

 /antinus was quite popular ; also 

 during the last . half of the 

 eighteenth century many species 

 were introduced, cau.sing a great 

 deal of interest in this llower. At 

 one time (>ladiolus segatum and 

 communis were highly jjrizcd for 

 their medicinal properties, but for 

 what ailment 1 have been unable 

 to ascertain. The starchy bulbs 

 of some African species were also 

 used by the natives as food. In 

 1823 Mr. Colvill, of Chel-sea, 

 brought to notice the variety Col- 

 villii, a ■ cross between cardinalis 

 and tristis, and which by later 

 breeding has shown some beautiful 

 liyljrids especially adajUed for 

 early forcing, althoug^h the llower 

 is (juite small. It seems, however, 

 to have been left to Van Ilouttc 

 to start the ball rolling, when in 

 1 84 1 he introduced to the trade 

 the Gandavensis' type, said by some 



auithoritifS to be a cross l>etween 

 psittac-inus and cardinalis, while 

 others claim it is the result of 

 crossing psittacinus and oppositi- 

 florus. I am inclined to the for- 

 mer theory, although in some so- 

 called ganadavensis hybrids the 

 blood of opposititlorus is recog- 

 nized, especially is it most prom- 

 inent in that old variety Ceres. 



The Ivemoinel tj-pe, a hybrid of 

 purpureo-auratus and Gandavensis, 

 was first introduced in 1878 by 

 Victor I.cmoine, and the Nanceian- 

 us, a hybrid of Lemoinel and San- 

 dersii, was introduced iji 1889 l->y 

 the same hybridiser. About this 

 time or perhaps a little ealier, 

 a cross between Gandavepsis and 

 Sander.sii was obtained by Max 

 Leichtlin, of Germany, which 

 strain came to America and was 

 named Chddsi. 



About the year 1887 I happened 

 to see a small planting of gladioli 

 in the garden of a personal friend, 

 which, comparing quality, vitality, 

 and multiplying functions were a 

 revelation to me. I found' |upon 

 inquiring that they were hybrids 

 from the trial grounds of Mr. II. 

 H. Grolf, of Canada, and invmedi- 

 ately I made it my business to 

 stock up as rapidly as possible 

 from that source, so that to-day I 

 have between 15 and 20,000 seed- 

 lings of exceptional merit, the re- 

 sult of crosses m^ade by that hy- 

 bridizer. 



— Cultural Methods. — 



The methods employed in the 

 .si'acoessful cultivation of the gladi- 

 olus are too well kaown to all 'of 

 you for me to go into full details 

 hence I will to|uch lightly upon 

 this subject. One of the principal 

 points is to select proper soil, for 

 although this l)ulb will bloom in 

 most any kind of soil and imder 

 adverse conditions, still the same 

 as most llowers it has its choice 

 of soils. Sandy loam is preferable, 

 but if this cannot be supplied, 

 heavy soil may be much lightened 

 by the ajiplication of sand. The 

 soil also should be well drained, 

 for the gladiolus will not thrive 

 well where there is excessive mois- 

 ture. The -sod .should be well fer- 

 tilized in the fall and thoroughly 

 ploughed, and again in the spring 

 .should be well pulwrized, at which 

 time the ligrhtening process with 

 sand should take jdace if required. 

 The planting can be made in rows 

 or en inas.se, according to the uses 

 which are to be made of the 

 flowers. If s]>ac€ is limited the 

 rows m.ay be as close as eighteen 

 inches (18 inches) apart ; such 



