210 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
£ March IT, 1387. 
Disbudding. —This is an operation that should not be per¬ 
formed in a haphazard manner, as the formation of the tree for 
next year in a great measure depends upon the way in which the 
process of disbudding is carried out this season. It should be done 
by degrees, so that the trees may not experience any check in the 
operation. The side buds nearest their bases and the terminal ones 
should only be retained, rubbing one half of the intervening buds 
off and pinching the other half back to a leaf, laying those spring¬ 
ing from the base of each shoot in the space reserved for them on 
the wall. 
Insects. —The first indication in the way of curled leaves that 
the trees show of being infested with aphides, they should be 
syringed with tobacco water at the rate of one quart of tobacco 
juice to four gallons of water, which will not only destroy those 
then on the trees, but also render the leaves distasteful to their 
attacks during the year. — H. W. Ward. 
NOTES FROM MY GARDEN IN 1886. 
No. 1.—GLADIOLUS. 
In again venturing to give a few notes on my experience in my 
small garden I have thought it best to begin with the Gladiolus, 
because as this is the season for planting them, my experience may be 
of use to those who may be commencing to grow this beautiful autumn 
Rower, and may also interest those who have had some years’ experience 
of a flower which also puzzles many in what seems its capricious way, 
but which may after all only seem so because they are ignorant of the 
proper way of treating it. It has gone through many phases of culture, 
and while failure has been the lot of most of those who have attempted 
it, success has so notably followed in other cases, that, comparing one 
with the other, we may perhaps arrive at some sound conclusion on the 
subject. 
1 grew only, exclusive of seedlings, about 400 conns last year, and 
they were planted in their different portions of my garden. One bed 
was in light rich garden soil, where flowers of one kind or another had 
been grown for some years, but where the Gladiolus had not been 
planted for the last two years. In this were grown some imported 
corms, a few of Mr. Kelway’s (about half a dozen) and some of my own 
harvesting. Another bed was in stiffish soil, but where Gladiolus had 
been previously grown. In this were planted mostly corms of my own 
harvesting, including amongst them some of Mr. Dobree’s seedlings; 
while the third bed. consisting exclusively of imported corms, was grown 
in a part of the garden which is much cooler anil the soil more stiff than 
in the rest of the garden. They were all planted about the same time— 
namely, the first week in March, and in the same way. The beds had been 
previously prepared in the autumn, being supplied with a good quantity 
of rotted manure, which was dug in, and then exposed to the winter 
frosts, and so became well sweetened. The time for planting was a very 
good une, and the ground in good condition, although not so good as this 
present season, when the soil has been in the most beautiful mellow condi¬ 
tion. They were planted in the way which I have adopted for some years— 
drawing a good drill the length of the bed, and then planting, so that 
they are about 4 inches under the surface when covered in. I put a 
little coarse road grit about them, which I think is better than sand, as 
it. does not tend to cake so much ; and as all our roads are mended with 
flint, I am not sure that the silica in the road scrapings are not of 
benefit to the corms; at any rate they keep the soil well open and 
prevent water from settling about them. As I have before explained, 
the beds are 4 feet wide, thus allowing room for four rows a foot apart, 
ami I always place the corms about a foot apart in the rows, as this 
gives plenty of room, if it be necessary or desirable to shade for exhi¬ 
bition, and also for staking them, an operation which is absolutely 
necessary if the flowers are to be preserved from the attacks of wind, to 
which their tall and slender growth makes them susceptible. We had a 
flue time for blooming, although somewhat late, but the varieties 
bloom at very different times, some, as Shakespeare, beginning at the 
end of July, and some like Phoebus opening towards the end of Sep¬ 
tember, in which month last year there was a great deal of cold and wet 
in the north and in Scotland, so that many did not bloom at all with 
them, ami many opened very indifferently, but in the south we had 
ti it much to complain of. 
And now, what was the result of my growth for the year? Unques¬ 
tionably the finest blooms, the most healthy plants, and the best roots 
at harvest time were supplied by those which were planted at the bottom 
of the garden in stiffish soil, while the worst show was made by those 
which had been planted in the ground where they had been previously 
grown, and which was, perhaps, sick of them. I had not one diseased 
corm in the whole of the bed which contained 150 roots, and although 
I lifted them when the foliage was green, the corms were sound and of 
good size, although nothing to be compared to those grown by Mr. 
Burrell of Cambridge, and some of which I have been just planting, the 
plants very vigorous, the foliage healthy, and the blooms excellent. 
■Owing to the lateness of the season some of my best flowers were not 
fully out at the time of the Crystal Palace Show, and I do not think that 
my stand there was as good as that in 1885. That this kind of soil is 
most suited for them I had, I think, clear evidence. I had divided the 
imported eorms between the two beds, one in that just mentioned, and 
the other in that part of my garden where the soil is lighter and richer, 
but in this latter case I lost a good many of the corms, which were as 
violently attacked by it as I have ever seen in any grown by myself from 
year to year, so that it is clear to me from this that the lighter richer 
soil does not suit them as well. I need hardly repeat what I have 
already more than once said, how thoroughly this view is confirme 1 by 
the experience of Mr. Burrell of Cambridge, whose rich unctuous soil 
combined with his drier climate have given him such a good chance, 
which he has not been slow to make use of. I have just been planting 
some of his corms, they have not shrivelled in the least, and were plump 
and sound. Another point which I have proved to my own satisfaction 
is that you get better blooms and cormfe when you cut the latter in two, 
than when they are planted whole— i.e.. if they have a couple of eyes, 
which in most cases they have, the one stem has a better chance of 
flowering well than when two come from the same corm close together, 
and the latter formed is generally larger and of better shape, and it, of 
course, doubles the number for planting. Even where the corms are 
smaller this may be done with advantage. At first there may be 
hesitation about it, as there is about pruning, but success will give 
courage, especially when it is known that the practice is resorted to by 
all our best growers. 
I have been somewhat disappointed in the varieties sent out by 
Souchet last autumn, but I do not like to pronounce positively about 
them, as they were grown in the bed of lighter soil, and so hardly had 
fair play ; but I grew the fallowing :— 
Admiral Cuvrbet .—Fine spike, carmine violet, white spot lined with 
cherry red. Such is the description given by the raisers. With me, 
however, the spike was not close enough, nor were the flowers so well 
set as in many of the varieties, such as Mabel, Nereide, &c. 
Dc. Brazza .—Long spike, very large flowers, shaded carmine red, 
large white spot. This is a promising variety, and I shall hope to find it 
better when grown in stronger soil. 
Fille des Champs .—Medium height and small flowers. I rather 
imagine that this will be more a garden than an exhibition variety. 
Magdalena .—Very pale lilac, largely flamed with carmine red, lined 
with violet carmine. Of this I cannot say a great deal, but live in 
hope. 
Masoarille .—Compact and regular spike of very open and well- 
formed flowers of salmon rose colour, sometimes marked with yellow. 
This was one of the varieties which were as badly diseased as any that I 
have ever seen ; and this, let it be remembered, was an imported corm. 
Sceptre de Flore .—A vigorous plant, bearing a long spike of large 
flowers with white throat, with a red star in the centre, colour of the 
petals lovely salmon rose. I am hopeful that this is a promising 
flower. 
Of the older varieties the following may be selected from, and they 
will, if properly grown, be sure to give pleasure, and can many of them 
be had at a moderate rate from a few pence to half-a-crown each :— 
Adolphe Brongniart, Baroness Burdett Coutts, Mount Etna, De Mirbel, 
Dalila, Nereide, Grande Rouge, Arabi Pasha, Abricote, Bicolore, Mabel, 
Tamerlane, Teresita, Jeannette, Atlas, Lacepede, Pasquin, Rossini, 
Camille, Le V6suve, Africain, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dr. Fontan, 
Chloris, Ovide, Benvenuto, Leandre, Pygmalion, Ondine, Hesperide, 
Demosthenc, Horace Vernet, Meyerbeer, Corinne, Camdhon, Phcebus, 
Colbert, Victor Jacqueminot, Ama, and Panorama. 
The Crystal Palace Company has made an additional class for 
amateurs in their schedule for this year, so as to give encouragement to 
them to come forward. They have protected the smaller growers by 
preventing those competing in the larger class from entering in the 
smaller one, and it is much to be hoped that lovers of flowers will take 
the hint and come forward in larger numbers to compete.—D., Deal. 
Kew List of Seeds. — The second list of seeds of hardy her¬ 
baceous annual and perennial plants grown in the Royal Gardens, Kew, 
is just issued and can be obtained in the Gardens, price 6d. It comprises 
in forty-six pages a large number of names arranged in the natural 
orders, with authorities, native countries, and principal synonyms. 
About 2700 species and varieties are enumerated, proving how rich is 
the collection of these plants at Kew. Much attention has been given 
to the department in recent years, and the annual additions are now 
considerable. 
- We have received from Messrs. Viccars Collyer & Co., 
Leicester, a fruit of the so-called “ Melon Pear,” a title which is in¬ 
appropriate, and may, perhaps, to some persons be misleading. It 3 
egg-shaped, 2J inches long by 1 \ in diameter, of a dull yellowish colour, 
and containing a firm juicy flesh, but of an indifferent flavour, due pro¬ 
bably to its being ripened out of season and without sun. It much 
resembles a variety of Solanum Melongena, perhaps guatemalense, but 
