2, 1860. 
3 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
hair Ferns* and fulgidums, and yet pretends to know 
nothing about them ; but, like the boy, may it not be for 
fear they would make him do them for The Cottage 
Gardener? I say nought, of course; but I must say 
that I have seen several most beautiful new Ferns this 
season, mostly from Mr. Sim, of Foot’s Cray Nursery. 
Kent. But having seen them in my capacity of volunteer 
in the cause of the Horticultural Society, and as the 
Society cannot yet afford to lop or moult a feather or 
Fern, I do not say anything about them in these pages ; 
but lately we had up from Lancashire such a darling of a 
new Fern, that I cannot resist the temptation of recom¬ 
mending it, or frills of it, as an additional illustration of 
dressing out a young lady’s head for a county or city 
ball; for it seems as if it were made on purpose for that 
very thing—say, for soft, feathery, silver spangles. I 
never saw anything like it, and it is a sport, and that 
from the silver powdery Gymnogramma peruviana of 
recent run. It is silvery all over the leaves, or fronds, 
like the feathers of some foreign bird, with the ends of all 
the feathery parts frilled and drooping, and having a 
scintillation, or wavering motion in the air, that would 
add charms to the most Grecian or Roman head in the 
classics. It was sent up to London by Mr. P. Kelly, 
gardener to Mrs. Redway, Redmont, Bolton-le-moors, 
Lancashire, and is named Wetenhalliana, after a gentle¬ 
man down there, by name Wetenhall. 
The next turn of the die brings us on to Gladiolus and 
I crown ornaments. This fancy is now confined to the 
breed of Natalensis, of which Gandavensis was the first 
break; and it is called the Gandavensis breed even by 
; some who should know their p’s and q’s much better. 
The orange in Natalensis or Psittacinus, mixed with the 
fiery scarlets of the elder breeds, has made a splendid 
soft vermilion tinge ; and tTie pure white of multiflorus 
has turned the same rich orange to a light primrose, to a 
canary, and to a light lemon tinge; and the lilac, or 
purple, or bright red feathers in the front petals of the 
old strain are now up to high scarlet and crimson ; but at 
this point I am certain a cross with Cardinalis would much 
brighten up the higher strain of the present race by such 
light feathering in front as would improve the high colours 
on the model of Tom Thumb-beds edged with the best 
bedding Geraniums, and there is no other flower in 
creation which would give the white so pure, and so 
much in front as the pollen of Cardinalis, the oldest of 
the race, and one that was regularly bedded out at Drop- 
more in 1825. From one kind called Osiris, which was 
in two collections at the Crystal Palace, one would be 
apt to think that European sorts have got crosses at last, 
or at least one cross in the family; Byzantinus being the 
only Gladiolus on which, it would bo safe to father 
Osiris. The three best yellow Gladioluses at the Crystal 
Palace Show were El Dorado, best; Sulphureus, second 
best; and Canary equal with it. Ophir is a darker 
yellow, and these are the best of their tints yet out. The 
best white was Madame Binder; best blush, Imperiale; 
and best deeper blush, Hebe, Vellida, Egerie ; best 
orange-scarlet, Brenchleyensis and Louis Yan Houtte; 
and Vulcan, the deepest crimson ; Osiris, a purple, after 
the European kinds ; Comte de Morny, a very striking 
light crimson or dark cherry, much blotched with white 
in front. All these were in the collection of the 
Messrs. Paul, of Cheshunt; and most of them were 
in that of Mr. Standish. Mr. Youell had the greatest 
portion of his of Brenchleyensis. Those from Paris 
were chiefly from lighter and a different cross. From 
these and what I had seen last year at the Wellington 
Road Nursery, and the assistance of a kind, chari¬ 
table grower of the race for many years, I have been 
enabled to make the following very limited and most 
select assortment for you to order now, when you send 
for the forcing bulbs, and for the Tulips, according to 
the selections I made last spring ; but I would not order 
them to be sent now—not till the end of February or 
GENTLEMAN, Oct 
some time in March ; for this reason, that they are not yet 
taken up for drying, that if any of them get the dry or 
wet rot in harvesting you will not be the loser ; and the 
reason for ordering them at all till the spring is this, that 
first comer is always best served in the nurseries. This, 
in particular, is on this wise :—the orders for Gladioluses 
are entered in the order-book in rotation as they come, 
and in the spring they begin at the beginning of the 
order-book, and pack and send off in the same rotation, 
and the worst luck goes to the slowcoaches. 
Again : If you mean to put a dozen or two, or twenty 
kinds into pots at the beginning of March, or early in 
April, or at both periods, and that you wish them to be 
along with the bedding plants till bedding-out time, you 
will have them so much earlier in, and you must make 
sure of ordering early on that same account ; and if you 
only mean to plant them in the open ground by the 20th 
of April, or not till all the spring bulbs and flowers are 
removed in May, you will be equally safe if the roots are 
in your own possession; but if you delay the order till 
the time comes round, a hungry lot of husky bulbs will 
not form the worst part of the play; but the “ sarve-him- 
right ” jibs and jeers of the packers, and of his own man 
at home, who will get all the blame and botheration 
which, in right, belongs to the governor himself for not 
doing as his mother did before him. Depend upon it, 
ladies are always first at this mart; but many gentle¬ 
men not till the last moment, and that is how they get 
served. 
I should like to be able to give the origin of every one 
of these Gladioluses below ; but that is not so blunt as a 
story about Gladioluses I once beard Mr. Standish relate 
about a baby that is down in bis part of !3agsbot. This 
baby is a great favourite with half a dozen families there, 
but not being quite sure of the origin of things in that 
line, they all call the dear little prattler “ our baby;” and 
he, Mr. Standish, being at fault about the origin of a 
Tom Thumb seedling Gladiolus, he called it “ Our baby, ’ 
and I booked “ our baby” Gladiolus at the Crystal Palace 
thus—a dwarf with three dark marks on a lateritia ground 
colour, which, with judicious crossing might become the 
mother of a new race of low, close-growing plants for the 
flower-beds. 
The very best Gladioluses for massing in beds— 
El Dorado, aforesaid. 
Leseble, pure white ground, marked in front with 
violet-rose. 
Ophir, deep yellow, marked with purple in front. 
Junon, white ground, and marked with lilac and purple. 
Rembrandt, very deep scarlet throughout. 
All these are extra fine, and in two years John Standish, 
Mrs. Standish, Garibaldi, and Samuel "YVaymouth will 
be added to them. The following are first-rate kinds of 
sterling merit: — 
Achille, a beautiful red, marked with white in front. 
Adonis, rosy salmon, more yellow in front and carmine 
marks. 
Comte de Morny, aforesaid. 
Due de Malakoff, a light sulphur ground, flamed with 
orange-red; a fine thing indeed. 
Le Poussin, clear red, and marked finely with white. 
Madame de Bonneville, cherry-rose, marked with purple 
on a light yellowish ground, the bottom nearly white. 
Madame de Vatry, white, tinged with yellow and car¬ 
mine spots. 
Napoleon III., orange-scarlet, marked with white. 
Ninon de l’Enclos, blush or flesh colour, marked with 
rose. 
Olympe Lecuyer, fine blush, with crimson marking. 
Othello, orange-red ; a dwarf for a front row. 
Raphael, vermilion ground, white and violet centre. 
Victor Verdier, of the deepest red all over. 
And the following are half-a-dozen of the next or 
second-best kinds for massing, ana with Brenchleyensis 
for cut spikes to dress the drawing-room glasses form the 
