TUBEROSE. GLADIOLrS. IXTA. 



Ill 



The Tuberose is a bulb which is largely grown in 

 Italy for exportation. The roots may be bought for 

 about three shillings a dozen ; they may be brought for- 

 ward in a frame, and when they are coming into flower 

 they may be planted out or removed into the house or 

 greenhouse. The fragrance of their pretty white flowers 

 IS more fitted for out of doors than for a house. For 

 soil they require rich sandy loam. 



The Gladiolus is a bulb from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 w^hich will stand our winters if it can be kept dry. For 

 planting the roots in the garden, dig out the earth a foot 

 deep, and put in a layer of good leaf-mould or well 

 rotted manure, and for the suiface mix well manured 

 garden earth with sand. Put in the roots six inches 

 deep, cover them with an inch in depth of sand, and 

 then fill in the earth. Eake the surface smooth, keep it 

 weeded and stirred from time to time, and in sharp 

 weather cover the roots w^ith dry litter several inches 

 thick. When they throw up the spikes for flow^er let 

 them have plenty of water. The early flowering sorts 

 may be planted the end of October ; Eamosiis, For- 

 mosissimuSy &c., in December; and Gandavensis, Flori- 

 hundus, Psittaciniis and Splendens in Febraary and 

 March ; and they will bloom well in the autumn. The 

 gladioli make nice pot plants. They increase well by 

 ofi'sets, which should be divided from the old roots when 

 they are taken up after flowering, and planted at once in 

 a bed of veiy rich earth, thoroughly well drained. 



New varieties may be obtained from seed by hybridiz> 

 ing the finest formed flowers with pollen from flowers 

 of the most beautiful colours. Sow the seed in gentle 

 heat in the spring, and when the seedlings are up let 

 them have plenty of air and very little water. As the 

 weather gets mild put them out ; leave them to gentle 

 showers, but shelter them from hedcvj rain. When the 

 leaves die off pick out the little bulbs, and in Septem- 

 ber make beds for them, as for the offsets, and there 

 let them remain two years, when they will flower if 

 transplanted into a new well-made bed. 



The Ixia, Tritonia, and Sparaxis are pretty flowers^ 



