THE GLADIOLUS. 
545 
one part, turfy peat; and one part, coarse 
drift sand. The whole of this preparation 
would be attended to during the frosty weather 
of winter, and the soil laid up in ridges, and 
frequently turned over and moved, so as to 
receive the full benefit of exposure to atmo- 
spheric influence. 
As we are brought to the consideration of a 
beginning, we will suppose the cultivator to 
have his plants brought forward in pots, in 
frames. By the middle or end of March, or 
early in April, the plants would be ready to 
plant out, and the weather would probably be 
such as to incur little risk of their sustaining 
any serious injuries from its unfavourableness; 
the plants would have been prepared and 
brought forward in the frames, being potted 
early in February and encouraged to grow, so 
as to be at the time named of some consider- 
able size and strength. They should be 
planted in patches of three or four bulbs, near 
together ; for the Gladioli like company, and 
they never thrive so well, or produce so good 
an effect, when separated to single bulbs : 
these patches should be planted from a foot to 
eighteen inches apart each way, according to 
the size and height the particular kind may 
attain to. Besides this, with no other atten- 
tion than the application of a portion of water 
in dry weather, and the favourable condition 
of the atmosphere and season, they will grow 
away freely, and produce flowers in due 
season. It isno,t, however, until they become 
a year or two established in their situations 
that their beauty will become realized in all its 
perfection ; the second season they will far 
exceed in beauty what they were in the first ; 
and they will continue to grow and flower 
freely for several years, if circumstances con- 
tinue favourable. 
It would be found to be of great assistance 
to the plants to adopt some plan by which 
the soil may be protected from excessive heat, 
Avhich frequently, during the height of the 
summer, has the effect of injuring the lower- 
most leaves. One means of remedying this 
evil, is to cover the surface of the soil with 
green moss, retained in large flakes as obtained 
from the woods, which, if kept damp, will 
retain its colour for a length of time, and have 
a very pretty effect. Another means of 
effecting the same end, is to sow dwarf trail- 
ing annuals among the plants, and to let them 
cover the surface. Mignonette, Collinsia 
grandiflora, Nemophilas, and similar plants, 
will be suitable. 
The principal after attention they require 
would be to cut away their decayed stems in 
the early part of the winter, and then to spread 
about two inches of leaf-mould over the surface 
of the bed ; this will serve a two- fold purpose, 
viz. to protect the roots if the weather is 
severe, and also to afford them some degree of 
nutriment when the growing season again 
arrives. When it became necessary or de- 
sirable to transplant them, it would be only to 
see that the drainage of the bed was perfect, 
to renew a portion of the soil if found neces- 
sary, and to take up, separate if required, and 
replant a portion or all of the patches of 
plants. 
Such would be the course to pursue with 
those kinds of which plants were plentiful. 
There are, however, others — hybrids, which 
have obeyed the florist's call, and which will, 
doubtless, occasionally add to the variety 
Gladiolus undulatus. 
which may, at the time, exist among these 
fine plants. The roots of such as these 
will, for a time, at least, be rare ; and there- 
fore what has been advanced with reference 
to the treatment of the plants in patches must 
be understood of them as referring to single 
bulbs. The result, as far as culture is con- 
cerned, will be the same, although the effect, 
in consequence of the smaller bulk of blossom, 
will be less imposing. 
PLANTING IN THE OPEN GROUND. 
The process of planting a bed of Gladiolus, 
where there is no convenience for bringing 
the plants forward in pots, is the same as that 
followed in the planting of hardy bulbs. The 
first thing to be done is to prepare the bed for 
the reception of the roots ; this may be done 
by removing the old soil to the depth of 
eighteen inches ; the space is then to be filled 
up with three or four inches of rough brick- 
bats, and other open porous materials, for 
drainage, and on this, about eighteen inches 
of the best soil that can be procured. This 
soil may either consist of one-half loam (turfy), 
one-fourth sandy peat, and one-fourth river or 
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