358 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 10,1894. 
in its perfect beauty, that unlees we were by instinct lovers of 
Nature, it might elude our gize. It was Wordsworth who sang in 
his great Ode to Immortality of even such tenderly beautiful 
flowers as these— 
“ Thanks to that human heart by which we live, 
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, its fears. 
To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears,” 
By the epithet “meanest” is signified lowliest, for we can hardly 
believe that to him who has been called, not without expressiveness, 
the High Priest of Nature, anything that has been created was 
mean. I do not hesitate to affirm that this special adjective, in its 
ordinary significance, is not applicable to any flower. 
There is not a floral creation of gracious Nature that is not 
impressive in i^s own peculiar sphere. Here, therefore, is a con¬ 
summate teach-^r, from whom we can hardly learn too much. 
Transplant the Golden Broom from the depths of the glen, with 
its masses of vegetation, to the open, sun-scorched spaces of the 
modern garden, where it is almost impossible to discover the 
smalleet suggestion of grateful soothing shade, and you will find 
that it is, in the language of that great evolutionist, Mr. Herbert 
Spencer, “ out of correspondence with its environments.” Even 
the Wild Cherry, so gorgeous with blossom at this special period in 
our shadowy woodlands, is infinitely more picturesque in such a 
situation, often overhanging a murmuring, meandering rivulet, than 
it would be if planted in ornamental grounds. Nevertheless, in 
shady recesses of an old-fashioned garden (partly modernised) such 
as mine, certain sylvan flowers which seem to grow there naturally, 
such, for example, as the Herb Robert, whose formation, so nearly 
akin to that of the sweet-scented Pelargonium, rivals the delicate 
structure of the most artistic Ferns, aeem perfectly correspondent 
with their floral surroundings. 
There are few flowers dearer to me than the Alpine Linaria, at 
present covering the walls of my garden with a grace which even 
the fair Tropaeolum speciosum could not equally impart. Con¬ 
fronted by great masses of Apple and Cherry blossoms, by crimson 
and primrose coloured Wallflowers, long lines of Violas, Orchid- 
rivalling Aquilegias, and Auriculas, whose fragrance equals that of 
the Cheshunt Hybrid Rose, this Alpine Linaria, so unobtrusive 
in its aspect, is not less charming in its own peculiar sphere ; it is 
freely permitted to entwine with its blossoms the grander glories of 
the Marechal Niel (and surely no privilege could be greater than 
this) ; it has not been “born to blush unseen,or waste its sweetness 
in the desert air.” “ There’s a flower that shall be mine,” says 
Wordsworth, “’tis the little Celandine,” and I understand that its 
likeness is carved upon his tomb. If there is any delicate floral 
daughter of Nature that I would like to call my own it is the 
Linaria. 
Is that man not the truest possessor of Nature to whom her 
beauty and significance are, by reason of bis reverential nature, his 
very light of life? To him the imperial Oriental Lily is not more 
impressive than the Tyrolean Gentian, which in the memorable 
language of the late Earl of Rosslyn, “ robs the Heavens of half 
their blue;” to him the regal Rose, with all its far-shining 
splendours, is not more dear than the Lily of the Valley, concealing 
its sweetness among its lustrous leaves. 
Infinitely noble and elevating is the horticultural art; but if 
it be artificial and formal in its methods ; if it does not draw its 
perennial inspiration from Nature, in whose infinite domains 
dis^cord is undisooverable, and harmony and perfect symmetry are 
universally predominant, it is unworthy of the namej— David 
R. Williamson. 
NOTES ON GLADIOLI. 
I HAVE been much interested in Mr. Brotherston’s statement on 
pages 256 and 274 of the Journal of Horticulture with regard to 
the culture of Gladioli in Scotland, and as an old amateur 
cultivator of these fine autumn flowers I may be able to supplement 
your correspondent’s observations by some of my own, more 
especially of the so-called hardy sections. It has always been a 
puzzle to me how Gladioli could possibly succeed commercially 
in Scotland, knowing as I do the dripping character of its autumn. 
I have always entertained the idea that the cor ms could ever be 
well ripened, and consequently a large proportion of them must 
have perished, and yet some remarkably fine stands have from time 
to time come from thence. 
Mr. Campbell of Gowrouch used for some years to bring up a 
very fine collection to the Crystal Palace Show in September, 
showing exceedingly healthy growth and long symmetrical spikes, 
their only fault being that having been once shaded to protect 
them from the weather they had not the same brilliancy of colour 
'■as those grown in the south. My memory still goes back to a bloom 
of Mabel which I saw at Edinburgh exhibited by Mr. Smith of 
Paisley, which I think was the finest bloom of that variety that I 
have ever seen. It is tolerably clear from Mr. Brotberston’s state¬ 
ment that my doubts are somewhat justified, for he speaks of some 
growers who import their corms annually, and this would be 
unnecessary if they could be well ripened at home ; not that this 
is, however, the only difficulty. For instance, I have had as much 
loss as could have been, I think, experienced by any Scotch grower, 
but not from the same cause. I can and do ripen them well, but 
long before the time for ripening comes I lose every year a large 
number from what I believe to be a disease, the cause of which I 
cannot trace, unless it be as Mr. Burrell says, that I have too much 
humus in my soil. I study their requirements as much as I well 
can, and yet they never respond to my delicate attentions by 
keeping themselves free from disease. I always manage to grow 
some grand blooms and to exhibit well, but my losses are notwith¬ 
standing many and great. Most of the amateur growers whom I 
have known have experienced the same difficulty, and nearly all of 
them have one after another abandoned their culture, although 
two of them, Mr. Lindsell of Hitchin and Mr. Fowler of Taunton, 
have shown during the last few years flowers which have rarely 
been equalled and never surpassed. With regard to the question of 
their hardiness, we all know that that is a relative term ; things 
may be hardy in the Isle of Wight which are not so in the midland 
counties of England or in parts of Scotland. 
It has always been a puzzle to me why these hybrids of 
Lemoine’s, and others who have followed in the same track, should 
have been considered hardy. Lemoine himself never said so, but 
in his catalogue calls them “ Glaieuls a grande macule,” and tells us 
that they require some protection in winter. The parents are not 
hardy, they come from that paradise of bulbs South Africa. We 
know that the varieties of Gandavensis are not hardy, and there¬ 
fore I could not understand why hybrids from these two sources 
should obtain a character which neither of the parents possessed. 
However, the general impression seemed to be that they were 
hardy I determined to give them a fair trial, and have grown them 
now for some years. The first that I obtained from Lemoine were 
planted in a warm border in front of my greenhouse. Two mild 
winters followed, and all the bulbs survived and flourished, and I 
began to hope that their assumed character was genuine, but on 
mentioning this to Mr. Burrell he said, “ I do not believe it, wait 
till you have a hard winter.” However, like many other people, I 
did not take advice, but procured a number of what were then 
newer varieties both from Lemoine and Souchet. The result was 
disastrous. The corms flourished and flowered well ; but a winter 
with severe frost followed, and as a result all my corms, both those 
that I had grown myself for some years and those I bad imported 
perished, with the exception of one variety Duguesclin, and why 
this survived I could never understand. I could see from the 
character of the flowers of the newer sorts that a good deal more 
of the blood of Gandavensis was to be found in them ; the flowers 
were more open, and had to a great extent lost the hooded character 
of the upper segment, while the large spot which is so characteristic 
of purpurea auratus had considerably diminished in size. 
Having thus in my own mind clearly established the fact 
that they were not hardy, I determined last year to give them 
another trial in a different way. I planted a number of corms, and 
did not take them up in the autumn as I do those of Gandavensis, 
but covered them over with some 6 or 8 inches of coal ashes, and 
now I find on removing that the corms are sound and shooting 
out strongly, but then we have had a mild winter. There was, 
it is true, a very sharp frost in January, perhaps sharper than any 
we had in the winter of 1892, and I think probably had the corms 
not had the protection of the coal ashes they would have perished in 
the severe frost of the first week in January, but having that 
they were in no way affected by its severity. 
The question now occurred to me if these Gladioli, which have 
so much of the Gandavensis blood in them, will survive our winters 
when they have a little protection, may not the pure hybrids of 
Gandavensis fare as well under the same conditions ? Accordingly 
I determined to leave a certain number of these in the ground, 
treating them in the same way. These I find are sound, and are 
shooting out fairly well. This opens out the question whether I 
may not treat more of my Gandavensis corms in the same manner. 
It would be an immense saving of trouble, and although I might 
not probably obtain quite as fine blooms, yet, as my exhibition days 
are over, I might well be content with smaller spikes. I have 
always felt that it was a severe ordeal for such fleshy corms to have 
to be dried so completely as they are when taken up. Still, the 
same thing happens with Hyacinths and many half-hardy bulbs. 
With regard to the second section, which Lemoine* has called 
Nancianus, which is a cross between Saundersi and the Lemoinei 
section, they seem to me to hold very much the same position. It 
must not be forgotten that Nancy has severer winters than we 
