218 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
bourhood. How I have wondered that the spikes have not been wantonly- 
plucked by passers-by; for they have been mercifully spared to be an abundant 
joy to myself, and I hope a fleeting feast of pleasure to the eyes of many a 
wayfarer. I had a row of French seedlings, hybrids of G. Gandavensis, but 
which I imagine had been hybridised with some varieties of the G. floribundus 
section. They were all light-coloured flowers of somewhat loose form, but in 
some instances very curiously marked. They were streaked, and flaked, and 
spotted in a singular manner, quite unlike anything I have ever seen in the 
G. Gandavensis section before. For the quality of form they possessed no 
value, but solely for their eccentric marking, and forming as they did a back- ' 
ground to some of the best of the named kinds, for which they were peculiarly 
fitted, being of stronger as well as of taller growth; and so forming a contrast 
that had yet an element of harmony about it. 
Of the named varieties I had Due de Malakoff, a brilliant flamed orange 
red, with conspicuous white blotch, very showy indeed ; Madame Haquin, a 
very beautiful lilac and white flower; Napoleon III, very bright scarlet, each 
petal having a white stripe running up it; Ninon de l’Enclos, flesh colour, 
striped with rose; Ophir, the deepest yellow I have yet seen, spotted with 
purple ; Raphael, glowing vermilion, with white throat, rayed and shaded with 
violet; Rembrandt, rich deep scarlet; Yelleda, bright rose spotted with lilac, 
large and fine; Vulcan, scarlet, flushed with purple, the centre of the flower 
shaded with violet; Mathilde de Landevoisin, a very beautiful flower, white, 
striped with carmine; Madame de Vatry, white, tinged with yellow, and 
flushed with pale pink, and spotted with carmine ; Ceres, another beautiful 
flower, pure white, spotted with violet rose, a fine spike; and Comte de Morny, 
cerise, blotched with white and striped with violet. These are but a very few 
of the many varieties extant, but not to be accepted strictly as a select list. 
During the prevalence of the dry weather I had to water daily, and as they 
were planted in a light porous soil—I had to use the materials that lay within 
my reach—they required morning and evening copious draughts of aqueous 
refreshment. At intervals of about two or three days I treated them to a 
higher form of nourishment, in the shape of some guano water carefully diluted 
and applied. This higher regimen I administered just as the flower-spikes 
began to show themselves above the foliage. 
I have been almost entirely free from the ravages of that epidemic, be it 
what it may, that for the past two or three years has fastened itself upon beds 
of Gladioli in the neighbourhood of London, and laid waste many a promising 
group of plants. Be it the prevalence of drought, or some defect in the con¬ 
stitution of the plant resulting from its having been imported from the continent, 
where it was in all probability imperfectly ripened in order to get it into the 
London market as early as possible in the autumn—it is an undeniable fact 
that the appearance of the phenomenon has sadly depressed the spirits of many 
a grower of the Gladiolus in the metropolitan districts, if not some in the 
country also. I must, however, make an exception to the last theory partially, 
if not entirely, inasmuch as I saw this season two large patches of Gladioli in 
two different localities, the bulbs of which had been grown and ripened in 
England, and yet very many of them had entirely failed. Then, again, I know 
a large cultivator in the country who has grown largely and successfully from 
imported bulbs, and who, in the south-western districts of England, has carried 
off first prizes at the various exhibitions at which he has exhibited, and he has 
scarcely a failure to chronicle. 
I incline to the opinion that early planting is very desirable, as the vital 
energies of the bulbs often become well nigh spent by keeping. They should 
not, however, be planted at a time of drought—dry springs seem to be a rule 
