170 
CROSS-BREEDING AND CULTURE OF THE GLADIOLUS. 
with which they produce seeds. Hence our recent varieties— [Willmoreanus, Gldfordiensis, and roseo- 
purpureus, mentioned above]—will be hailed with delight, in consequence of their distinctness of 
colour and of marking, as compared with any of those now in general cultivation. 
What a magnificent appearance is presented by a group of Gladiolus gandavensis, occupying the 
back ground of an American bed, a clump on the lawn, or a place in the shrubbery border, during the 
months of September and October—a season when flowers are much wanted. Gladiolus oppositiflorus 
is also equally beautiful in its way, producing a spike of white blossoms eighteen inches long, and also 
blooming in autumn, when such an object has a very commanding appearance. The Gladioli have an 
extra claim on our attention, from being perfectly hardy; I allude now to the natalensis section, com¬ 
prising the two above named, and a few other varieties equally beautiful, such as vernalis, spicatus, 
polystachius, pyramidalis, and ramosus, the last-named being very desirable from its dwarf habit. 
The new varieties above alluded to are Hybrids of the same class, raised here, and are crosses between 
G. gandavensis and floribundus, seeds having been saved from each, and mutually crossed. It may 
be well to remark the advantage which would result, if all who interest themselves in hybridizing, 
particularly when they are working on the first or second crosses—which, generally speaking, produce 
seedlings with but little variation in colour or markings, the difference being generally in the size of 
bloom and intensity of colour—would note the same, and report thereon; for such information laid 
before the public would greatly advance the objects of the hybridist, much time being frequently lost 
in travelling over ground already explored. 
These few remarks on what is particularly wanted in this interesting tribe, recall to mind an 
opinion of the late lamented Dean of Manchester, who held that the cardinalis section would not cross 
with the natalensis section; hence his idea of subdividing them. I freely grant the difficulty, but 
am far from thinking it impossible to effect such a cross; which, if it could be obtained, would be 
productive of all that could be desired, by giving us a class of intermediate flowers that would bloom 
later than the cardinalis family, and earlier than the gandavensis varieties. Another grand object 
would also be achieved, by imparting a hardier constitution to the cardinalis section, by this means 
destroying the tendency to early growth, which is a point of great importance; the fact of their moving 
for growth so early as November rendering them particularly liable to suffer injury if they are planted 
out at that season; and hence the absolute necessity, if this tendency is to be overruled, of obtaining 
crosses with some of the hardy kinds. The introduction of the colour and markings of the cardinalis 
broad semi-recumbent glaucous foliage, and an inclined half-recumbent stem with large scarlet and white blossoms; yet the produce 
of these intermixed is fertile, and where the third species blandus has been also admitted into the union, it is fertile in the extreme 
(incomparably more so than the pure G. cardinalis), and by that triple cross the tall strong Gladiolus oppositiflorus of Madagascar 
has also produced offspring, which, though not disposed at present to make seed freely, has produced some this year. Again, the 
first of these mules was fertilized by G. hirsutus (known at the Cape by the name roseus), a plant with flowers straighter than usual 
in the genus, and strongly scented, the leaves hairy and margined with red. That cross has not as yet proved fertile. The same G. 
hirsutus was crossed by Mr. Bidwill at Sydney, where the Cape bulbs thrive more freely than here, with G. alatus (which Ecklon 
wished to turn off into a genus Hebea), having hard rigidly ribbed leaves, a short stem, and orange flowers. The cross-bred plants 
flowered here last autumn, being intermediate in foliage and flower. The only opportunity I have had of crossing G. alatus with the 
first-named mules was defeated, notwithstanding much precaution, through the introduction of pollen by the humble-bees, which are 
dangerous marplots to such experiments. The showy G, natalensis (called also psittacinus) of the Natal country, which endures more 
frost than any of the southern Gladioli, though it suffers much from July rains in many positions, has been freely crossed by myself, 
by Mr. Belfield, by Mr. Bidwill, and by cultivators on the Continent, with G. oppositiflorus, a Madagascar plant, found, perhaps, also 
in Caffraria, and often called improperly in the shops floribundus, an old name for a very different plant. The cross named G. 
Gandavi (for the adjective name Gandavensis to a garden cross is very objectionable) has been figured in the beautiful Ghent 
periodical work of M. Van Houtte and his fellow-labourers in botanic and horticultural science; it is there stated most erroneously 
to have been raised between natalensis and cardinalis; it flowered at Ghent for the first time in Europe, the soil and climate being 
much more congenial to Gladioli there than at Spofforth and in the west of England; but some of the seedlings raised in Devonshire 
and taken to Sydney had flowered earlier. Abundance of beautiful seedlings have been raised here and abroad between cardinalis 
and oppositiflorus, and vice versa, many of which have been sent over from the Continent under the name G. ramosus, as if they 
were plants of a natural species. Those from abroad have generally perished soon here, the soil and climate being too damp; but 
my own seedlings, probably the opposite cross, have a much stronger constitution, more variety of colour, and have this season 
ripened much seed. This statement might, perhaps, induce the reader to think all the species easily convertible; but it is not so. 
If I am asked why, I can only say, that the ways of God are not as our ways, and are past finding out. The cross erroneously stated 
to have been made between G. natalensis and cardinalis, if not absolutely impossible, is so difficult, that repeated attempts made 
during successive years by myself, and by J. T. Alcock, Esq., who interested himself in this matter, and probably by many others, 
have all proved abortive; and no cross has been effected, as far as I know, between G. natalensis and any species from the Cape 
territory, although both natalensis and the Cape species mix readily with the Madagascar plant. I am now trying whether the 
cross G. Gandavi, being half-blood, will mingle with the Cape species, and the result is not yet quite certain. I lately set nine 
flowers of G. oppositiflorus with pollen of G. hirsutus. Large pods were readily produced, but unexpectedly they proved to contain 
only chaff and perishing kernels, the fertilization having, perhaps, extended to the seed-vessel and the outer coat of all the ovules, 
without having vivified them ; but I believe one frosty night in August caused the failure. Five equally fine pods were produced at 
tha same time on a scarlet § cardinalis mule. Few of their ovules were at all fertilized, and the greater part of those were chaff, but 
a few apparently good seeds were amongst them, which will probably vegetate. G. Gandavi itself has ripened its seed three 
successive years, and one from the first batch of its descendants is now in flower. It preserves the cross-bred type, and might be 
accounted a distinct species, if I did not know that it was raised from oppositiflorus by pollen of natalensis. It reverts, however, a 
