A UTOMA TIC GREENHO USES. 



211 



how they have been kept during winter ; if dry and 

 warm, their vitality will be greatly impaired, if not 

 entirely lost ; but if kept in earth, slightly moist and 

 cool, not much above the freezing point, nearly 

 every one will come up quickly. 



To perpetuate any desired variety, the following 

 is the only way, and it is a speedy one. The bulb 

 lets should be taken off soon after the bulbs are 

 taken up in autumn, put in sand, and placed in a 

 cool, moist and dark cellar, and planted in the open 

 ground as early in spring as any seeds can be sown. 

 They should be covered about an inch deep with 

 fine soil, and afterwards cared for in the same way 

 as the most common garden vegetable. If the con- 

 ditions of growth are favorable, bulbs will be formed 

 as large as marbles, a large proportion of which will 

 flower the following seas(jn 



It is a marked peculiarity of the gladiolus that the 

 best or more beautiful sorts produce but few bulb- 

 lets, while most of the varieties will not produce any 

 after they are two or three years old ; the largest 

 number is produced from bulbs only one year old, 

 or the second year from the bulblet. If the bulblets 

 are saved from the best varieties and carefully grown, 

 the increase of bulbs will be rapid ; and so will the 

 interest that such beautiful forms awaken. 



If there is in gardening any pleasure more fascin- 

 ating than the growing of the gladiolus from seed, 

 we cannot name it. This pleasure comes, in a great 

 measure, from the uncertainty that awaits the oper- 

 ation. In growing a given number of bulbs from 

 seed, one will be sure of getting an ecjual number of 



varieties ; there will be no two alike ; there may be 

 some remarkably choice ones ; there ivill be some 

 decidedly poor ones ; the proportion of either may 

 be large or small — the results alone will determine 

 that. No care in the selection of seed or cross-fer- 

 tilization seems to make any marked difference. 

 We have grown millions of bulbs from seeds, some 

 saved with the greatest care, others taken at ran- 

 dom, and have secured some of our very best sorts 

 from what we supposed the most inferior seeds. The 

 outcome is purely a matter of chance. As a rule, 

 the chances are greatly in favor of the best results 

 from the best care in selection and the best cultiva- 

 tion. 



It is a singular fact that in every lot of seedlings, 

 some will be found that closely resemble John Bull, 

 a good white, and Brenchleyensis, one of the best 

 scarlets. Now, these varieties rarely produce seeds ; 

 if they did, they would not reproduce themselves ; 

 but a close resemblance to these two distinct sorts 

 will always be noticed in a bed of seedlings, while 

 the rule does not hold good with regard to any other 

 named sort. 



Seeds should be sown in drills one foot apart, and 

 covered thinly with fine soil ; and the bed should be 

 mulched with salt hay or other fine grass, to keep 

 the surface moist and loose until the young plants 

 are well up ; then the mulching should be removed 

 and the land be cultivated the same as for bulblets. 

 Many of the bulbs will flower the second year, 

 and their opening will be most interesting. 



Queens. 



AUTOMATIC GREENHOUSES. 



SURPRISING AND IMPORTANT ADVANCE IN GREENHOUSE 

 CONSTRUCTION. 



iiiE American Garden 

 always takes pleasure 

 in laying before its 

 readers descriptions 

 of new appliances or 

 inventions of use in 

 horticulture. During 

 the past winter a 

 series of experiments 

 have been conducted 

 by Charles Barnard at his place in Stamford, 

 Conn., in the construction and management of 

 greenhouses. The results of these expei'iments are 

 here laid before the public for the first time, and 

 they seem to promise an interesting and important 



change in the entire business of plant culture under 

 glass. 



Greenhouses, forcing houses, graperies, propagat- 

 ing houses and other horticultural structures, as 

 now built, are always costly to build and expensive 

 to maintain. Such structures must be built per- 

 manently. They cannot be taken down and re- 

 moved without great loss, and, as a result, are sel- 

 dom built on leased land. Conservatories attached 

 to houses have to sta}' with the house, though the 

 family would often be glad to pack it on the furni- 

 ture van when they move. All such buildings re- 

 quire constant, regular, daily attention. The fires 

 must be looked after night and morning and often 

 in the middle of the night. The ventilators must 



