JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 29, 1883. ] 
imperfect. There are sometimes as many as eight or ten of 
these undersized leaves, forming almost a whorl at the base of 
the shoot, and taking up not more than three-quarters of an 
inch of its length, and most of them fall before the stoning 
period is passed. These small leaves almost entirely cover the 
fruits in their earliest stage, but when the fruits become larger 
and hardier they need the light, and the small leaves fall off. 
I take a lesson from this, and instead of stopping the shoots 
to three or four leaves, as is often recommended, three or four 
leaves in addition to the small ones are pulled off, and then 
when the shoot is 5 or 6 inches in length, and has several 
good leaves so far away from the fruit that they cannot 
possibly shade it, the point is picked out. The result is that 
before stoning time the fruit has become a good deal hardened, 
and, some of the Nectarines especially, show it by their colour. 
The terminal shoot, which generally has a fruit at its base, is 
treated in the same way.— Wm. Taylor. 
EARLY-FLOWERING GLADIOLI. 
Though not so stately as the varieties of G. gandavensis 
these bloom considerably earlier, and on that account are very 
valuable either in the garden for decoration, or where cut 
flowers are in demand, as they afford a plentiful supply when 
other flowers are not very abundant. Once planted they give 
no further trouble, but continue increasing, forming effective 
clumps, which, when in masses that have not been dis urbed 
for a dozen years or more, are grand. Not the least of their 
merits is that of not being so particular as regards soil and 
situation as the choicer and more imposing relatives, but no 
idea can be formed of their effectiveness from newly planted 
bulbs. It is important, however, to select a site for planting 
where water does not stagnate in the subsoil—indeed it should 
be well drained, and light rather than heavy. Anything likely 
to form a close heavy mass, as manure mixed with the soil in 
quantity, should be avoided, although a very light poor soil 
will bear considerably more enrichment than heavy soil; and 
the latter should be made porous by a free incorporation of 
sand or ashes. After the bulbs are planted and established a 
top-dressing of well-decayed manure, leaf soil, or decayed 
vegetable matter will be advantageous, the eurface being 
pointed previous to its application, which should be effected as 
soon as the stems have died. If the summer be hot and dry 
a good soaking of water or weak liquid manure will greatly 
benefit the plants and durability of the flowers. 
The best time to plant is October, as they start into growth 
early, and established clumps commence growth early in 
autumn ; but I have planted purchased bulbs as late as 
March, which, though not so good as those earlier planted the 
first year, have nevertheless formed equally effective masses. 
The corms of the G. ramosus section should be planted 6 inches 
apart, half a dozen or more in a clump, and these in a few 
seasons will form magnificent masses. They should be planted 
from 4 to 6 inches deep, and in heavy soil it will be advisable 
to place a little sand under and over the corms. The smaller 
varieties of the summer-blooming Gladioli should be planted 
4 inches apart and that dep h. It may be noted that they do 
remarkably well where the soil is of a peaty nature, and they 
may be employed in association with Rhododendrons. 
The species G. ramosus has deep rosy-red flowers flaked with 
white. The following varieties are cheap and good : Queen 
Victoria, scarlet, with large white flake and of dwarf habit ; 
Ne Plus Ultra, deep red, flaked white and crimson, one of the 
hardiest and best. Floribundus, white, rose, and violet flakes, 
has entirely died out with me, and so have others of the 
hybrids of ramosus, the exceptions are formosissimus and 
emicans. Of the early-flowering section Gladiolus com¬ 
munis albus and roseus, though small, are very pre'ty. 
G. byzantinus, rosy purple, is very showy. G. insignis, with 
its dense spikes and bright scarlet flowers, flaked crimson-purple, 
is very striking. G. blandus, dwarf, flesh-coloured with dark 
spots, is one of the earliest to flower, and is more or less 
fragrant. G. cardinalis, bright scarlet, is one of the most useful 
and effective. G. Colvilli, purple, striped lilac, and its var. 
albus (The Bride), afford flowers for cutting, than which there 
are few finer in existence. G. sagittalis, purple, and dwarf 
251 
habit, of which there are several varieties ; G. trimaculatus, 
rose, spotted white, and G. segetum, purple, from the Austrian 
Tyrol, are all worth place in every garden. 
Early-flow’ering Gladioli are charming in pots for decorative 
purposes, and for forcing to precede those grown in the open 
ground or forwarded by cool treatment. The bulbs are potted 
as soon as they are received m autumn, and are placed in 
5 or 6-inch pots, four or five corms in each, employing a com¬ 
post of light turfy loam with a little sand, covering the corms 
about an inch deep. It is advisable to have the compost in 
a moderately moist condition, so as to avoid the necessity for 
giving water till the growth has commenced. They do very 
well under the stage of a greenhouse until they have made 
a growth of a few inches, then they should be placed in a 
position near the glass, and duly supplied with water and w T eak 
liquid manure once a week, being careful not to overwater 
them. If placed early in the year in a light airy house with 
an intermediate temperature they will advance rapidly and 
flower in April or early in May, or in the latter month if 
brought on in an ordinary greenhouse temperature. Others 
can be placed in a cold frame or pit, or outdoors, plunged 
in ashes, from which they can be transferred at intervals to 
the greenhouse for a few weeks, thence to a house w r ith a 
temperature of 50° to 55°, and, assigned a light position, they 
will come in useful for general decorative purposes. Brought 
on in an ordinary greenhouse they will flower in late May or 
early June, and precede those in the open ground. _ To form 
effective masses for conservatory decoration any size of pot 
may be employed, placing the corms a couple of inches apart, 
and an inch from the sides of the pot, giving them similar 
treatment to those in smaller pots. After flowering they may 
be placed outdoors, that is after the middle of June, and being 
properly supplied with water they will be available for flower¬ 
ing again in successive years, and from having the growth 
accelerated and ripened at an early period they will acquire 
an early habit, and be all the more valuable on that account; 
or, planted out after flowering, they be attractive each season. 
I may especially mention G. Colvilli, purple lilac, and its 
var. albus (The Bride), pure white, which are valuable, force 
readily, and ought to be grown by everyone.—G. Abbey. 
POTATO DISEASE. 
A short report is given in the Journal of the 15th inst. of 
objections offered by Mr. George Murray, at the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society, to certain views of mine on the so-called sclerotia 
of Peronospora infestans. He says that “a microscopical ex¬ 
amination of certain specimens did not clearly reveal any organic 
connection between the sclerotia and the Peronospora mycelium. ” 
But it has to be kept in view that generally the edges of the 
sclerotia plasmodiate before myceliation begins ; so that, in point 
of fact, the granular plasm from which the Peronospora my¬ 
celium arises has lost all organic connection with the undissolved 
part of the sclerotia. On rare occasions, however, excessively 
delicate threads in considerable numbers can be distinctly seen 
to arise from a sclerotium. 
These sclerotia have been seen already by Mr. W. G. Smith, 
and perhaps by others ; and whether they are truly called sclerotia 
(as Mr. Murray denies) is a mere matter of classification. 
Mr. Murray says sclerotia are “a compact mycelium.” But 
sclerotia are not going to be tied up in this narrow way. It is 
true that some sclerotia consist for the most part of compact 
mycelium ; but, in addition to the short anastomosing lines, there 
is the hornified plasm which holds these lines together. If they 
are “ caught young ” something more may be made of them. It 
is then seen that the mycelic lines arise from exuded plasm around 
the mass already formed. But in the case of the best known of 
all the sclerotia—Ergot, the mass consists for the most part of 
agglutinated spores. If a white young Ergot is squeezed out cn 
the slide it is seen to consist of whole oceans of spores (variously 
named) arising from a spongy mycelic axis.—A. Stephen 
Wilson. 
Fdchsia Mrs. Rundell. — I wish to point out an error of your 
correspondent, “ W. J. M., Clonmel ,” on page 241, where he says that 
Mr. Cannell is the raiser of this Fuchsia. I beg to state that I was 
the raiser of this variety, and Mr. Cannell obtained it from me. I 
quite agree with “ W. J. M.” as to its being a vigorous grower, and is 
most certainly a free winter bloomer. It is the result of a cross 
