THE GLADIOLUS. 



569 



sickly yellow tint amongst the leaves — an undesirable result, 

 erroneously called by many of the uninitiated a disease. 



The time of lifting the corms should be carefully attended to, 

 as it is a point of great importance in preventing their decay. No 

 harm will arise from early lifting, even if it is done as soon as 

 the spikes of bloom are cut ; but, on the other hand, if the 

 Gladiolus be left in the ground after signs of its decay are 

 apparent, by the foliage turning yellow, then the corms of the 

 most delicate sorts will gradually perish. 



The various causes of this premature decay are low tempera- 

 ture, undrained land, heavy soil, and too much moisture. 



From this decay proceeds the greater part of our losses, and 

 the skill of the cultivator is taxed greatly to devise the best 

 way of combating the sudden and extreme changes of weather 

 which we experience in our uncertain climate. A great deal has 

 been written upon the disease and degeneration of the Gladiolus 

 in this country, and, from my long experience in its cultivation, 

 no doubt it will be expected that I should make some allusion 

 to it. 



All sorts of conflicting opinions have been expressed regard- 

 ing it, some having described it as so bad as to threaten its utter 

 extinction. I will just state what two of our greatest amateur 

 growers have written. One says : "In a large collection there 

 are always a number of plants of which the stalks die off pre- 

 maturely ; the best way is to pull them up and tie them in 

 bundles to burn. Some growers consider this a disease, but it is 

 probably nothing but degeneration, as no trace of disease is 

 apparent in the corms." The other says: " I grew a root of 

 Celimene, which I imported from France. The corm threw up 

 two shoots and formed two new corms, both of which are fear- 

 fully diseased. This being an imported bulb, it is not owing to 

 its cultivation in England. I have observed the same premature 

 dying off in a seedling bed, when degeneration cannot be laid to 

 its charge." So that one of these gentlemen says that the cause 

 of failure is probably degeneration, and the other disease, and 

 adds : "I have no remedy to propound. I consider it analogous 

 to the potato disease ; it is not fungus, though fungus comes 

 afterwards, and it is contagious." 



Similar results occur with many of our hardy plants, and I 

 have no doubt that nearly everyone present has noticed in pass- 



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