NovESinun G. 
COUNTilY GENTLEMvVN’S COMPANION. 
weather in winter, and be turned out in the middle or end of 
I March. If liardy kinds, tlie sooner they are out the better. 
Tlie Sweet Briar is a bad stock for budding on.] 
GL.4DIOLr CULTUllE. 
“ I have been much ])uzzled liow to treat Gladioli, of which 
I have bought great numbers, of various sorts, in tlie last 
tlii-ee years. Not one of them is hai’dy with me. Even the 
common, old red were all killed last winter, (landaveuxis and 
its varieties survives tolerably, but I cannot depend upon it. 
Itamosns and its varieties, as well as Florilntndm, Cardinalis, 
ibc., if left in the ground, are two or tbree inches high by 
Christmas, and when the frost comes the bulbs rot. Besides 
this, these sorts, esi^ecially Rumosus, though they flower 
well the first year, make their new bulbs so small as to 
aftbrd no chance of flowering the second year. A bulb 
of Ramosits, for instance, which is three inches in diameter 
when first planted, produces, after it has died down, three 
or four bulbs about the size of a small Crocus ; which, when 
planted again, break up into still smaller ones. I have tried 
every kind of made soil and treatment, without success. 
“ Gaiidavensis, alone, in the open border, makes very fine 
new bulbs, which do well; but, as I am always fromhonie when 
it flowers (in August), I care little for it. 7a.uV/a« thrives 
capitally as a greenhouse bulb, and makes good bulbs, but it 
is far from being hardy with mo.— Eton Coi.lege.’’ 
[The best account of the treatment of Hybrid Gladioli in 
the English language, after that which is given in several 
volumes of The Cottaue G.uidenek, will be found in the 
writings of the late Dean of Winchester (Dr. Herbert), and 
more especially in his treatise on cross-bred plants in his 
Amaryllidacea, from which we quote the following, the result 
of thirty or forty years experience, to which we can testify 
from twenty years practice by ourselves, as the most rational 
method to be pursued in the climate of Great Britain ; — 
“ The Hybrid Gladioli,” the Dean writes, “ of Avhich a 
large portion are sufficiently hardy, flower about the same 
time as the Eoses, and contribute quite as much in general 
effect to the embellishment of the garden by their fine colours 
and profusion of blossom. They succeed very well in the 
natural soil of the garden at Spolforlh, which is a good, yel¬ 
lowish, light loam, suitable for barley, and also in the arti¬ 
ficial borders of peat and sand, where, however, in a dry 
summer, they stand more in need of water. These hardy 
crosses are between G. Cardinalis, blandits, carmens, infietlus, 
anyustus, and tristis,* and they vary with every shade of 
colour, Eom white to scarlet, rose, coppery, and blackish- 
purple, and some are exquisitely si)eckled, in consequence of 
the cross with Tristis. They succeed best when grown into 
a thick tuft, in which state the profusion of blossom is 
admirable, the cluster of bulbs and the old skins of de¬ 
cayed bulbs permitting the wet to drain aw'ay, and prevent¬ 
ing the earth from lying too close and heavy on the bulbs in 
autumn and winter. Clusters have now stood undisturbed 
at Spoffbrth above twenty years,” (and for twelve years sub¬ 
sequent to this statement,) “ with the ijrecaution of covering 
them wdth leaves from November to March or April. 
There is danger in disturbing and parting them, for numbers 
of them will rot if i-eset separately; but if they must be 
divided, it is best to do so in April,” (when they are in 
active growth,) “ or if it be done in the autumn, the roots 
taken up should be potted and turned out again in the 
spring.” 
In the severe winter of 1837-8 Gladiolus cardinalis, 
the mother parent of the chief crosses above referred to, 
stood out, without any protection, at Kilkenny, in Ireland, 
with Mr. Eobertson, nurseryman there, who records the fact 
in the “ Gardener's Magazine ” for 1838. In 1811, Mr. 
M'Kenzie, gardener, at Blair Adam, in Perthshix-e, writes in 
the “ Gai'dener’s Magazine ” for that year, “ What flower can 
surpass the brilliancy of G. cardinalis, when grown in luxu¬ 
riance ? Here, like the sun in the planetary system, it is 
the centre of atti’action; for in a space of about twelve feet by 
seven feet, there are no less than 000 trusses of this magni- 
i ficent flower, exciting the admiration of all visitors. It is 
generally considered tender; yet it grow's here on an eleva- 
* This was written prior to the strain got from Natulensis, which are 
still more hardy, 
tion of about 900 feet above the level of the sea, with little j 
or no protection.” In the hard winter of 1810-1, the bed at ' 
I’lnir Adam had no protection whatever, but the bulbs flow- ; 
ered still better, as they always do, the longer they are left 
undisturbed. We never recollect to have seen a good bloom 
of Gladioli for the first two years after disturbing the bulbs, i 
unless they w'ore. assisted by pot cultui’e, until the flower ‘ 
stems w'ei'e advancing, or, at least, formed. The propagation , 
and culture at Blair Adam, for many years, wei’C as follows:— 
“ About the beginning of October, when I (Mr. M'Kenzie) | 
wish to propagate them, I take from well-established plants ; 
a ball, or cluster of bulbs, about one-and-a-half or two feet *1 
in circumference (!) from one side of the strongest plants, ! 
and plant them in beds twm feet wide, and the plants one 
foot apart, putting a little sand beneath the bulbs, and in 
the course of two or three years the beds will be covered 
with the plants. I jxlant them about two or tliree inches 
deep. In 1839, I jdanted a bed in this manner, and with 
as little care as I would take in planting any herbaceous 
plant, and have given no protection ever since; yet, in both 
seasons, namely, 18-10 1, the bed has been nearly covered 
with strong trusses of flowei'S.” It must be recollected, 
that this was planted u'ith large patches of bulbs, in colonies, 
as it wei'e, without the individual bulbs being separated, 
and mark the following :—“ Last spring (1841), I separated 
a large ball of bulbs, and planted them out singly, and this 
summer (18-11) only two flowers have made their appeai'- 
ance.” Ofcoui’se, the older crosses never do bloom till they 
are well established ; but those of the new straiix from 
Ahilalensis, qr psittacinus, ai’e moi-e hard, and less impatient 
of bad treatment. Ramoses was the first noticeable flower 
of the new strain ; but it was ushered into the wTirld with a 
lie, in the “Magazine of Botany” for June, 1839, which 
says, the plant was a native of the Cape of Good Hoixe. 
Gandavensis was the next, and all the bulbs and kinds of 
this strain, which are not mixed with the blood of Cardi- j 
nalis and its strain, need not be planted-out, or potted, till 
the end of February, if they have been lifted ; but they, too, 
and all Gladioli whatever, should never be disturbed for a 
lifetime; those who do so are fighting, as it were, against 
the air. It is vei-y rare, indeed, that a bulb of any of 
the race will flower three years running, under the best 
gardeners; but very few of them should be tried in pots at 
all. The one or two years’ j)ractice, or experiments, on 
Gladioli, which are recorded in our books, are more likely 
to lead people astray than otherwise. The quotations given 
above seem to us as the cream of all that can be found on 
the subject out of the pages of The Cottage Gakdener. 
The system pursued in Holland, and for the trade in bulbs, 
is not applicable here, or to amateurs anywhere.—D. B.] 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Bedford. November 7tk and 8th. Secs., J. T. R. Allen, Esq., and F. 
A. Havender, Esq. Entries close October l6th. 
BiKMiNGHAM, Iltli to 14th of December. Sec., J. Morgan, jun., Esq. 
Entries close November 10th. ! 
Durham and North Yorkshire, at Darlington, 6th and 7th of De- ; 
cember. A'ce., J. Hodgson, Esq. Entries close November Ipth, 
Nottinghamsuirk, at Southwell, igth and 20th of December. Sec 
R. Hawksley, jun.. Esq., Southwell. Entries close November 20th. 
South Durham and North Riding of Yorksuiue. At Darlington, ■ 
December 6th and 7th. Sec. Jno. Hodgson. | 
Taunton and Somerset. Nov. 2,3rd and 24th. Sec. Win. Buncombe, 
Esq., Taunton. Entries close November 3rd. 
Vale or Aylesbury. January 2nd and 3rd. Secs. J.D. Muddiman, 
and Jas. Allen. Entries close December 20th. 
N.B .—Secretaries vnll oblige us by sending early copies of their lists, j 
STATE OF OUR VARIOUS BREEDS OF | 
POULTRY. i 
{Continued from page Gl.) 
It is certainly a matter of satisfaction, that our estimate 
of the condition of the tihanghae fowl is to be formed at 
the present time, and not at any preceding period of the 
