6a 



Ill 



let. They have the perfect form of the lovely Ceres 

 with the vigorous growth of Reine Victoria, and 

 seem, in all res[)ect8, laultless. 



J\li.lton stands in the first rank among those with 

 rosy-white ground. The flowers are marked with 

 red, large and finely shaped, on a very long spike. 



Newton is a rich and peculiar shade of very dark 

 crimson, lined with white and rose. Large and very 

 fine. 



Lord Byron is crimson scarlet, with white lines 

 in the centre of each leaf, in the same fashion as 

 Achilles. It is showy and effective, but the flowers 

 are pointed, and not as well shaped as they might 

 be. 



Among the high priced varieties, not quite so 

 new as the above, we have Madame de Sevigne, 

 similar to Le Fomsin^ and not wojth the difference 

 in price, although excellent. 



Meyerbeer is extraordinary grand, seeming about 

 as near perfection among the Scarlets as can be 

 imagined. The spike is magnificent, with a hazy 

 splendor about the flowers that is quite indescri- 

 bable. 



FuUon is a fine, clear, vermilion red, marked with 

 purple ; a strong grower and very showy. 



It would occupy too much of your space should I 

 enlarge upon the merits of Flora, Walter Scott, a 

 lovely rose color, Charles Dickens, Ophir, the state- 

 liest of the yellows, Madame Vilmorin, Edulia, 

 Prince of Wales, and a host of others. They are 

 all charming, and must satii^fy any one, no matter 

 how great his expectations. 



It is quite amu>ing to see how contradictory is 

 the advice given for the treatmerit ef Gladiolus bulbs 

 and bulblets. Regarding the hitter, Mr. Rand saj^s 

 in the ITorticulturwt for 1864, page 336, " lay them 

 aside for 18 months, ihen sow them in the open 

 border in a pepared bed ; they will come up in ten 

 days — not one will fail— and form bulbs which will 

 bloom the next summer. If, however, you plant 

 them the next spring after gathering, (instead of 

 keeping them over a season,) not one in a hundred 

 will come up," In a late number of an English 

 journal, the Rev. II. Dombrain, a celebrated florist, 

 says 'these bulblets must, on no account, be allowed 

 to become dry.' 



Now, the fact is, that Mr. Rand's statement is 

 wrong, and Mr. Dombrain's caution is unnecessary, 

 since, last Fall, I planted my bulblets to within a 

 month or six weeks after taking them from the 

 ground, and when they were quite dry. They have 

 come up by thousands, so that the seed pans fairly 

 bristle with their little blades. I find, however, that 

 there is an unaccountable difference in the sprouting 



of the different varieties; as, under apparently sim- 

 ilar treatment, Meyerbeer and Eurydice only began 

 to show signs of life while a hundred others, — Lord 

 BjTon, Newton, &C.3 — had leaves from four to six 

 inches long. 



The number of bulblets formed at the bottom of 

 the large bulbs must, I think, depend considerably 

 upon the soil and, perhaps, climate. The English 

 Florist above mentioned says he finds the Gladiolus 

 Mons. L. d' Alha.nna extremely prolific of these ; 

 but from other French varieties he has never been 

 able to obtain more than three or four. His expe- 

 rience, 1 am sure, differs from that of many grow- 

 ers on our side of the water, as, with us, njost of 

 the varieties give a liberal increase in light soil. 



But if we have the advantage of the English in 

 the quantify of bulblets, they are decidedly ahead 

 of us in the quality of their " small fry." In the 

 London Gardeners Chronicle^ for January 26Lh, 

 YoUELL & (Jo., (Royal Nurseries,) mentioning the 

 quantity of Gladiolus Brenchleyensis they grow 

 every summer, say, "we annually obtain magnificent 

 flowers from bulbs of Brenchleyensis not larger than 

 a pea !" The ! mark is theirs, and is well put ; for 

 no pea-sized Gladiolus, on this side of the water, 

 has ever exhibited such astonishing power, nor ever 

 will, I am inclined to think. 



A j^ear or two ago it was thought the soil could 

 hardly be too poor for Gladiolus ; but of late the 

 advice has been to make it unusually rich. The 

 truth, as usual, lies between these extremes. A 

 light, well-drained soil, moderately rich, suits this 

 flower. It is best that the land should have been 

 manured the previous Autumn ; but if delayed until 

 Spring, none but old and thoroughly rotten manure 

 must be used, and that from the " bovine race," as 

 the French say, is best. In addition, a sprinkling 

 of bone dust is good. If the weather should be very 

 dry at the time the flower stalk appears, a soaking 

 watering will be of great benefit, — much greater, in 

 fact, than those think who have not tried it. 



The Gladiolus should not be planted where it will 

 be at all shaded from the sun ; but if the weather 

 should be hot and dry when the flowers show, the 

 duration of bloom will be increased by shading the 

 flower spike. 



It is worthy of notice that, if the flower stalk is 

 cut off and put into water, when most of the buds 

 are still unexpanded, they will all open by degrees, 

 and keep fresh for many daj^s. So, for in-door de- 

 coration as well as for out^side, the Gladiolus is cer- 

 tainly one of the most reliable flowers we have. 



