THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
285 
eral, goes into the country for the summer months, the 
exhibition had to be made by the dealers, who are in¬ 
terested in the sale of the bulbs, and this proved a for¬ 
tunate circumstance for the Gladiolus, as it could be 
staged and shown without the interference of arrange¬ 
ment committees, judged, as all flowers should be 
judged, by their lovers who were truly disinterested, so 
that there was no rivalry, excepting such as the flowers 
presented, they were the only rivals, and they were un- 
concfous of their own beauty, and free from envyings 
or jealousies. These free exhibitions are also a boon to 
the exhibitors, as they have nothing to hope for in the 
way of premiums, hence there is no anxiety depicted on 
their countenances, and no disposition to show one 
flower under two or more different variety names, 
as aspirants for premiums are sometimes wont to 
do. 
Of the exhibitions here referred to, there were two ; 
the first was given by Messrs. Peter Henderson & Co., 
35 Cortlandt St., New York, August 13tli to 16th, and 
the other by Messrs. Young & Elliott, No. 18 Cortlandt 
St., on the 15th and 16th. These two firms are the 
growers’ largest customers, therefore they were anxious 
to show their customers the quality of the flowers they 
offer for sale. The growers, of course, were equally in¬ 
terested with them in making the display as fine as 
possible, as upon that, the dissemination of their pro¬ 
ductions largely depends. 
The Gladiolus, in this country is, relatively, but little 
known, and it was a poor compliment for our favorite 
flower to have scores of visitors ask the name of them, 
not their variety name, but of the flower itself, and it 
was no less a compliment to see the report in one of our 
leading morning papers, of the flowers as “re¬ 
markably handsome and delightfully fragrant.” In 
view of such ignorance, exhibitions are necessary 
for educational purposes. It is not our intention to 
draw parallel lines between the displays, or to speak of 
either the dealers or growers, but rather to speak of 
the Gladiolus, in the interest of which the displays were 
made. 
Thanks to the favorable season, no such displays were 
ever before made in this country, either as regards 
quantity, length of spike, number of flowers, vigorous 
growth and diversity of color. In both collections the 
best named sorts were well represented, the French nov¬ 
elties, for the first time sent out, were best represented 
at Messrs. Young & Elliotts. Amongst the named sorts 
from the general collections were: Adansona,: —Fine spike 
of deep rose colored flowers, slightly tinged with lilac, 
with a large blotch of yellowish white on lower petals, 
edged with carmine, and striped with lilac. Baroness 
Burdette Coutts. —Delicate lilac tinged with rare, flamed 
rosy purple. Spike very long and flowers unusually 
large. Bicoler. —A very distinct and striking variety 
with large flowers of bright rosy salmon, with the ex¬ 
ception of the lower petals, which are ivory-white suf¬ 
fused with rose at the edges. Africain. —Entirely 
distinct variety of quite a novel color, slaty-brown on 
scarlet ground streaked with scarlet and pure white, 
with conspicuous white blotch. A dark colored variety 
of remarkable effect; dense spike. Av^rore. —Bright 
salmon rose, striped orange, carmine and lilac, blotched 
cherry-rose streaked violet. Very bright lovely shade. 
Grand Lilas. —Fine tall spike of large perfectly arranged 
flowers of a beautiful delicate lilac, shaded darker to¬ 
wards the edges. A novel and distinct shade of color. 
Grand Rouge. —Splendid spike of large flowers of bright 
scarlet with small violet blotch. Splendid variety of 
grand effect. Dalila. —Very finely arranged spike of 
large bright rose flowers streaked and flamed with car¬ 
mine ; very large pure white blotch. Giganteus. —Very 
tall spike of large well opened flowers of a fine rose 
color shading off to cherry, upper petals transparent 
rose, blotch; dark carmine, veined white all over. Gin- 
erva. —Tall spike of well arranged flowers often pro¬ 
duced in clusters at the top, of a beautiful cherry-rose 
color, flushed with red, centre line of petals pure white, 
small purplish carmine; blotch on straw-colored ground. 
La Candeur. —White, lightly striped with carmine- 
violet. Mayerbeer. —Brilliant scarlet, flamed with Ver¬ 
million, amaranth-red blotch. Norma. —Pure white, 
occasionally very slightly suffused with pale lilac. 
Phoenix. —Extra large flowers of a beautiful cherry-rose 
color flamed with a darker shade, pure white blotch 
and bands, very charming. Semiramis. —Carmine-rose 
on white ground, flamed with bright carmine ; unrivalled 
variety. Shakespeare. —White, very slightly suffused 
with carmine-rose, large rosy blotch. Martha Wash¬ 
ington. —A tall and strong growing plant; flowers pure 
light yellow, of large size in a well arranged s,jike, 
lower petals slightly tinged with rose ; it is of a branch¬ 
ing habit and some of the branches are longer than an 
ordinary spike of flowers, making this one of the most 
statelv and beautiful varieties yet introduced. Emma 
Thursby. —A magnificent variety, flowers large, pure 
white with a well-defined carmine stripe on the lower 
petals, well arranged on a very long spike. 
(We have given the growers description of the above, 
in each case.) 
HARDY HYBRID GLADIOLUS. 
This new class of Gladioli, the result of crossing G. 
purpureo-auratus with the Gandavensis section, was 
shown in considerable numbers, at Young & Elliotts, 
and because of their peculiar markings of the most 
intense colors, attracted much attention. The follow¬ 
ing were the best varieties exhibited : 
Froebeli. —Delicate rose, lower petals blotched with 
deep purple. Lemoinei. —Fine good size flowers closely 
set on the spike, which is about one foot long; upper 
petals of a creamy white color tinted with salmon-red, 
the lower ones spotted with deep purplish crimson, 
bordered with bright yellow and salmony-red. Marie 
Lemoine. —Long spike of fine well expanded flowers ; 
upper divisions of a pale creamy color, flushed with 
salmon-lilac, the lower divisions spotted with purplish- 
violet and bordered deep yellow. John Tliorpe. —Fine 
flowers, bright red, with blotches of fiery-red on a sul¬ 
phur color ground, all the lower petals streaked with 
yellow. 
THE AMERICAN SEEDLING GLADIOLUS 
were the prominent features in both collections, but 
they were by far the more numerous, and as a rule of 
superior quality, in Messrs. Henderson’s collection. We 
would here remark, that for the mixed garden, or for 
general planting, the American seedlings far surpass 
the imported named varieties, excepting those that are 
sold at a price that prevents their general.use. Our 
American seedlings are more vigorous, the flowers are 
larger, and there is a greater variety of colors, and in 
a collection of several thousand spikes, there will be 
