January 31, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
313 
whole piece in drills 18 ins. apart and 3 ins. deep, and 
mark it out, by means of lines across and at right 
angles to the drills, into beds of 4 ft. wide, and with 
paths 2 ft. in width. 
Commence planting by placing a corm against each 
line, and filling up the space with two, three, or four 
conns according to their size. If the conns are very 
large, four in a row will be found quite sufficient. 
When one bed is finished, cover in neatly with a rake, 
remove the lines, and proceed to the next. 
Planting thus in beds is preferable, as it affords the 
cultivators facilities for examining and tending in¬ 
dividual spikes without danger to the rest. 
In this way continue planting, at intervals of a 
fortnight, from the end of February until the 20th of 
May, and you will extend the succession of bloom from 
the commencement to the end of the season, which is 
usually the end of November, unless the flowers are 
previously destroyed by frost. 
The plants will require no attention until they 
commence to show signs of blooming, except in keeping 
them quite free from weeds. When signs of blooming 
are apparent stimulants may be advantageously applied. 
I have for the last twenty years used a preparation of 
my own, which I dissolve in water and apply about 
once a week, according to the state of the weather. 
Stakes will now be necessary for any spikes specially 
required for exhibition, and these when fixed in the 
ground should not reach higher than the lowest bloom, 
as when a taller stake is used the flowers are liable to 
be injured by friction against it. Mulching is also now 
necessary—in the first place to keep down the weeds 
and secondly to keep the ground moist. I formerly 
used rotted manure for this double purpose, but find 
that straw-chaff is quite as efficacious, and it is much 
nicer and cleaner to walk upon when tying or cutting 
the spikes. 
If the weather should prove very dry during the 
season, a liberal supply of water should be given, but 
some judgment is required, particularly where the soil 
is of a clayey nature, as it often happens that heavy 
watering or much rain followed by low temperature 
causes the fibrous roots to perish, resulting in a sickly 
yellow tint among the leaves—an undesirable result, 
erroneously called by many of the uninitiated a 
disease. 
The time of lifting the conns should be carefully 
attended to, as it is a point of great importance in 
preventing their decay. No harm will arise from early 
lifting, even if it is done as soon as the spikes of bloom 
are cut; but, on the other hand, if the Gladiolus be 
left in the ground after signs of its decay are apparent, 
by the foliage turning yellow, then the corms of the 
most delicate sorts will gradually perish. 
The various causes of this premature decay are low 
temperature, undrained land, heavy soil, and too much 
moisture. 
From this decay proceeds the greater part of our 
losses, and the skill of the cultivator is taxed greatly 
to devise the best way of combating the sudden and 
extreme changes of weather which we experience in our 
uncertain climate. A great deal has been written upon 
the. disease and degeneration of the Gladiolus in this 
country, and, from my long experience in its cultivation, 
no doubt it will be expected that I should make some 
allusion to it. 
All sorts of conflicting opinions have been expressed 
regarding it, some having described it as so bad as to 
threaten its utter extinction. I will just state what two 
of our greatest amateur growers have written. One 
says: “In a large collection there are always a number 
of plants of which the stalks die off prematurely ; the 
best way is to pull them up and tie them in bundles to 
bum. Some growers consider this a disease, but it is 
probably nothing but degeneration, as no trace of 
disease is apparent in the corms.” The other says: “I 
grew a root of Celimene, which I imported from France. 
The corm threw up two shoots and formed two new 
corms, both of which are fearfully diseased. This being 
an imported bulb, it is not owing to its cultivation in 
England. I have observed the same premature dying 
off in a seedling bed, when degeneration cannot be laid 
to its charge.” So that one of these gentlemen says 
that the cause of failure is probably degeneration, and 
the other disease, and adds : “I have no remedy to 
propound. I consider it analogous to the Potato 
disease ; it is not fungus, though fungus comes after¬ 
wards, and it is contagious.” 
Similar results occur with many of cur hardy plants, 
and I have no doubt that nearly everyone present has 
noticed in passing through agricultural districts the 
yellow sickly appearance of our fields of wheat in the 
months of March and April, but no one would think of 
banishing the cultivation of wheat from this country 
through an occasional failure. 
I do uot believe that any disease or degeneration 
exists in the Gladiolus, hut that the spots found upon 
the corms are simply the result of the cold and wet 
destroying the fibrous roots, which naturally deprives 
the plant of nourishment and impairs its vitality, so 
that it commences to decay. 
Following upon this weakness and decay comes the 
fungus, which preys upon the corm, and which has 
been quoted by so many as the primary cause of the 
languor instead of the result of impaired vitality. 
If the plant he taken up as soon as this languor is 
visible, upon examining the fibrous roots the first signs 
of decay will be found in them, which proves that the 
decay does not originate, as many suppose, in the 
foliage (a 3 in the Hollyhock) or in the corm (as in the 
Fotato tuber), there being no sign of it in either. But 
if these corms be not instautly removed from the soil 
and gradually dried off, they too will become affected 
and gradually perish. It is often found that those 
lifted late one year will, during the next, he affected 
by decay, which, no doubt, was generated the year 
before whilst in the grouud. 
The parents of these hybrids, as is well known, were 
natives of a much hotter climate—that of South 
Africa—and we must therefore expect that our climate 
will, especially in some seasons more than others, be 
prejudicial to many of the most delicate kinds. 
Therefore, when this sickness is visible, I strongly 
recommend early lifting as a preventative of actual 
loss—as life will thus be secured to the bulbs—but, 
when taken up, they must be immediately spread in 
the shade and gradually dried off. 
But I do not recommend this course being adopted 
except in these cases of premature decay. Practical 
knowledge must be used in carrying out every detail, 
as in the cultivation of all plants. No man can be a 
successful cultivator from books alone, for there are 
peculiarities of which the grower alone knows, and 
which he can know only by experience. There is 
always a stumbling-block in the way of the unsuccessful: 
the soil is too heavy or too light, the water is too hard, 
we are on the clay or the gravel, and so forth ; but these 
are simply excuses for their want of success, for the 
Gladiolus, properly treated, can be grown to per¬ 
fection in this country. 
I believe that the subject of these remarks is gen¬ 
erally acknowledged to be pre-eminent upon the 
exhibition table during the autumn months, on account 
of its grandeur and brilliancy of colouring. 
Although its season of flowering is rather long, 
August 25th is about the date in the south of England 
when wc can generally cut the finest stand of blooms. 
The method usually adopted for setting up the spikes, 
and which I now use, is one which I invented and first 
used at one of the society’s meetings in 1868. Various 
kinds of foliage have been called into requisition 
as a background, but there is no doubt but that the 
natural foliage of the plant suits this flower better 
than auy other, and no other is so effective in throwing 
up the brilliancy of the flowers. 
The best time to cut the spikes intended for exhibi¬ 
tion is about five o’clock in the morning ; at this 
time only can the flowers be seen in the freshness of 
their beauty, the dew hanging on them like pearls. 
We are obliged to cut upon the day previous to 
the. show, and after being cut they are taken to the 
cut-flower room and arranged in water in the show¬ 
cases ready for exhibition. Despatched by the night 
train they arrive quite fresh for the next day’s show. 
When at Fontainebleau in 1874 I had a conversa¬ 
tion with M. Souchet, and also with M. Vilmoiia, of 
Paris, upon what they considered perfection. It seems 
that the French raisers prefer the spike to be long, 
the flowers evenly disposed, and standing quite 
independently of one another, so that you may see 
between them. They consider our spikes heavy and 
lumpish, theirs light and elegant. 
1 shall now describe what I consiler a perfect plant 
—one of robust habit, strong constitution, and tall 
growth, the spike long, and carrying not less than 
eight to ten blooms at one time, the foliage broad, 
the flowers so disposed as to come naturally to the 
fore, and to just touch one another, and so to com¬ 
pletely hide the stem. The individual blooms should 
be 4 ins. to 5 ins. across, the petals broad, and of good 
substance and endurance, not inclined to curl at the 
edges ; the ground-colour pure, but if containing two 
or more tints the flakes should be of a deeper shade, 
and the lines in the centre of the petals should be 
clearly defined. 
filtjattmtjs from '0C[nrlb 
of j§nottto. 
Drying Flowers to Preserve their Shape— 
We have on a previous occasion mentioned the drying 
of Orchid flowers by means of dry sand, which not 
only preserves the form of the flower intact, but also 
the colour to some extent. For herbarium purposes of 
course this method of drying would be impracticable ; 
but there are many who would like to preserve curious, 
rare, or large and fleshy flowers such as those of 
Orchids, Cacti, &c., or the pitches of Nepenthes, 
Sairacenia, and others. Sand may of course be used in 
all these cases, completely surrounding the flowers, and 
filling the interior so as to preserve the form until dry, 
after which all the parts will support themselves. 
Dr. Byron D. Halstead, \n The American Garde i, speaks 
of the use of very fine grass seed, such as that of 
Timothy for drying purposes. His plan is to put the 
pitcher or flower into a wide-mouthed vessel and fill in 
every part carefully with the seed, after which he 
hangs the vessel in the open air till the object is dried. 
This must of course he done in fine weather ; but a 
warm and dry place might be found indoors for the 
process. 
Fruitful Strawberries have Imperfect 
Flowers.—Cultivators iu America are more troubled 
with their Strawberry plants becoming dioecious, that 
is, male and female, than we are. When this happens, 
no fruit can be produced at all, unless the sexes are 
planted within a limited distance of one another. Varie¬ 
ties there are, however, with imperfect flowers, producing 
only a small quantity of pollen, and according to Mr. 
J. Green, of the Ohio Experiment Station, these 
varieties are the most prolific. Those with imperfect 
flowers give a better crop by 33 per cent, than those 
having perfect flowers. The reason given is that the 
production of pollen is an exhaustive process, and 
weakens the plants in proportion to the amount they 
develop, leaving them exposed to the effects of fungi, 
insects, dry weather, frost, and other evils. Those 
varieties, therefore, weak in pollen, will succeed under 
unfavourable conditions, that would tell badly on 
those having perfect flowers. 
The Eggs of the Cabbage Aphis and where 
laid.—In this country we generally speak of aphides 
as green-fly ; but the Cabbage aphis is bluish white, 
and not green. It has been known both in Europe and 
America for the past 100 years ; but hitherto, according 
to Dr. C. M. Weed, of the Ohio Experiment Station, 
United States, the sexual generation has not been dis¬ 
covered. The insects bring forth live young all 
through the summer, hut late in autumn winged males 
and wingless females are produced. The latter lay 
their eggs upon the Cabbage leaves, and the eggs 
remain dormant till spring, when they hatch, and a 
colony of aphides is founded by every insect that reaches 
maturity or the bearing stage. Those whose plants are 
infested with the Cabbage aphis during summer, should 
take care that the old leaves are all collected and 
carried off the ground as soon as the hearts are cut. 
They might be given to pigs, or laid in a heap to 
ferment, taking care that the heap is turned once or 
twice, so as to put every green particle under the action 
of fermentation. A little lime might be added to assist 
in the process of decomposition. 
Reserve Food in Plants—According to Dr. Byio i 
D. Halstead, in the American Garden, the amount of 
reserve food in plants is a measure of their hardiness. 
As a matter of course we know that badly ripened 
wood is tender, and can never contain any quantity of 
reserve food because it is being used up for the purposes 
of growth ; and not till that is completed can reserve 
matter be stored in any quantity. All this, of course, 
must be brought about while the leaves are yet on the 
plant and elaborating the food material. “Thogrit,” 
he says, “ which the grafter finds in twigs is a measure 
of maturity and relative hardiness, because it indicates 
that the starch is densely stored in mature and thick- 
walled cells.” Albuminoids are also plentiful in the 
central portion of the bud, which, of course, consists 
largely of meristem tissue. Immediately behind this 
are the more mature cells containing their reserve of 
starch ready to come to the aid of growth when the 
buds commence to move in spring. Flower buds con¬ 
tain a larger quantity of albuminoids than leaf buds 
do. Dr. Halstead also finds that reserve food is laid 
up in spines, and this it is argued, may be the 
reason why spiny wild plants are hardier than their 
spinelsss and cultivated progeny. 
