414 
[ November 14, 158?.* 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
deposited upon them. When ordinary wine bottles are filled with 
water and suspended in a cool room they will need no attention in 
refilling, except the few in which those are placed that have very 
short laterals. These should all be arranged together, so that they 
can be looked over occasionally to keep the stems in the water. 
No charcoal need be placed in the bottles, this practice is a waste 
of time, the neck of the bottle need not be stopped with clay or 
any other material, and the ends of the shoot need not be sealed or 
even charred. These are superfluities, and should not be taken into 
consideration, all that is required is to cut the bunches from the 
Vines with the laterals attached and place them in the bottles of 
water. If the room is ventilated liberally on all favourable occasions 
few berries will be lost if the Grapes have been well ripened 
and liberally thinned. When they are kept in a cool room they 
retain their bloom and colour to the last, and their flavour as far 
as we have been able to judge is not impaired in the least. Last 
April our Alicantes in appearance and flavour were as good as when 
they were cut from the Vines. When fire heat was used after 
bottling they gradually lost their colour and flavour in a marked 
degree. 
The Grapes from late Vines where the fruit is intended for 
use during the months of March, April and later, may be cut 
from the middle to the end of December. The fruit intended for 
use during the months of December, January and February may 
be removed, and the Vines given a chance to rest directly the 
foliage has fallen naturally.—W m. Bardney. 
AUTUMN WORK AMONGST GLADIOLI. 
There are three subjects which will much interest the growers 
of Gladioli at this season of the year :—1, The lifting and storing 
of corms ; 2, the preparation of the ground for next spring 
planting ; and 3, the adding to the collection of newer sorts which 
have proved valuable additions, and on each of these subjects I 
may say something from my own experience of thirty years or 
more of their culture. Of course, I am alluding to the hybrids of 
gindavensis. I have grown for some years some of Lemoine’s hybrids 
of purpureo-auratus, which are increasing in size and beauty every 
year, a white one having been obtained in Venus de Milo. I have 
found them in this part of England (Kent) to be perfectly hardy ; 
and it should be borne in mind that although we are in the Garden 
of England, and so far to the south, yet we are subject to very 
sharp frosts. My corms have been left in the ground for six years, 
and have not only not suffered but largely increased. This will 
probably satisfy your correspondent, “ W. J. M.in fact, I cannot 
suppose that there is any part of Ireland where they would not be 
perfectly hardy. Mr. W. E. Gumbleton grows them in Cork to 
great perfection, and with him they are perfectly hardy. True 
that is a favoured locality, but I should think it is equally true 
with other parts of the country. The hybrids of nanus I cultivate 
in pots, so that I have now to do with those of gandavensis only. 
This season is rather a puzzling one. What we want in October 
is what they generally have at Fontainebleau, a dry and sunny 
month ; instead of that we have had up to October 28th more than 
seven inches of rain ; the ground was saturated, and there was a 
great difficulty about lifting and harvesting the corms It is well 
known that there are certain times for the flowering, and I think 
the time for lifting the corms may be regulated accordingly. The 
dry month of September greatly facilitated the ripening of the 
corms, a process which the wet October has considerably hampered. 
I have taken up a few of the very earliest, such as Shakespeare, 
Adolphe Brogniart, but the greater portion will have to remain, so 
that I shall be in no hurry about them, for if they are harvested by 
the end of November I shall be satisfied. There is one thing, 
however, about which care will have to be taken ; the beds are now 
so thoroughly wet and the corms so full of moisture that if frost 
should come they will have to be protected by long litter thrown over 
them. I still adhere to the plan of storing them that I have for 
some years advocated—viz., to clear off all the earth which is dry 
enough, where it is considered advisable to rub off the spawn and 
store it away in bags, although I would strongly urge, except in the 
case of the newer and more expensive kinds, that it is not worth 
while to take the trouble, as they can be obtained now at so cheap 
a rate, and instead of having to wait for two or three years for 
your plants to flower you obtain flowering roots at once. Having 
cleared away the old corm and made the new one generally tidy, 
I then place them in my lattice frame where they are well 
exposed to (he light and air, first of all writing the name on each, 
so that if they get out of their place they will not create con¬ 
fusion. I bring the stand into the dwelling house, where it is. 
free from the influence of frost, and where I can have an occasional 
look at them during the winter. With regard to the question of 
leaving them in the ground, I cannot recommend it. I have tried 
it more than once, and have always failed, and yet I have some- 
coming up in the most vigorous style in my Rose garden, where I 
grew them ten or twelve years ago, these being evidently from 
spawn which has remained in the ground all that time. One corm 
has thrown up four strong flowering stems, yet with all this I 
should be very sorry to try to leave them in the ground. 
With regard to the preparation of the ground for planting, it 
will be somewhat of a difficulty with me this year owing to our 
excessive rainfall, and the consequently soddened condition of the 
ground, but it must be done as soon as possible. After trying 
various parts of the garden I have chosen a piece where the soil i& 
somewhat stiffer than the rest, and here I have a space sufficient 
for four beds, two of them I use each year, and this is the only 
change I can give them. The beds I have used this year will he 
planted with Potatoes or other vegetables, while those to be planted' 
in spring have been this year occup'ed by vegetables. I believe it 
is still better to leave the ground intended for next year s planting 
fallow, but unfortunately I have not space enough to do this, so F 
must only do the best I can. 
One important matter will occupy the mind of the grower, and 
that is the improvement of his collection by new varieties, for the 
improvement that is taking place is so very great that many of the 
choicest varieties of former days are shelved by others of the same 
colour. Thus Norma used to be considered the best of the whites, 
and is still a pretty flower, but it has been supplanted by Enchan- 
teresse, a flower double its size, and of excellent quality. Meyer¬ 
beer, which is still an exhibition flower, has a very successful rival 
in Grande Rouge, very similar to it in colour, but much larger, and 
so with many others ; in fact, we are now getting a length of spike 
and size of flower which were undreamt of in former days. 
I have had this year the opportunity of growing seedling 
varieties from four different sources. I met at the Crystal Palace 
in 1888 an American nurseryman who kindly offered to send me 
some of the new American varieties. In due course I received a. 
dozen fine corms, but I am sorry to say that I found nothing of any 
moment amongst them ; they were deficient in form and length of 
spike, and although one or two varieties were curious in colouring, 
yet they were so angular in shape that it was impossible to regard 
them as worth keeping, and they have now gone into mixtures. 
The other three sources were Messrs. Souillard and Brunelet of 
Fontainebleau, Mr. Kelway of Langport, and Mr. Burrell of 
Cambridge. Mr. Kelway sent out as usual a number of new 
varieties which had been certificated in various places, but I 
do not know enough to be able to say anything about them. 
I have grown some of those sent out in 1886, but I have not grown 
any of the more recent ones. He has been successfully exhibiting his 
flowers in Paris, so I have no doubt they were good, and amongst 
the varieties of 1886 there are unquestionably some pretty sorts. 
Of Mr. Burrell’s seedlings I know more, and am quite convinced 
that he is raising some most valuable varieties, and although they 
have not been announced in his catalogue, that does not detract 
from their excellence. The truth is, I suppose, that bringing out 
seedling varieties of the Gladiolus is not a very paying concern, and 
Mr. Burrell is somewhat fastidious. He does not like to bring 
forward anything that is not thoroughly good. I have grown some 
of his for the last two years, and think that amongst them the 
following may be noted as really good :— 
Cygnet .—A creamy white flower of good size and substance, and 
giving a good spike. 
The Mikado .—A brilliant scarlet flower with white spot and 
carmine feather. 
Avalanche .—A pure white with long spike of large flowers, 
opening very much at the same time. 
Snowdon .—I have not seen Souchet’s Mont Blanc, and this is by 
far the finest white Gladiolus I have seen ; the flowers are very 
large, and it was exhibited at Shrewsbury with twenty blooms out 
on it. 
Mrs. Lindsell.—A flower much in the style of Orphee, but 
larger and very brightly marked. 
Dorothy and Pleasance are also good flowers, while several of 
the selected seedlings of last year promise to make good flowers. 
I now come to the French varieties, of which I have had none 
later than those sent out in the autumn of 1887, and of them I 
think the following a correct acconnt :— 
Arriere Garde .—A late blooming variety ; plant is strong and 
forms a good long spike of salmon rose flowers, largely flamed with 
slaty violet, white spots. 
Cendrillon .—A long spike of flowers closely set together ; 
