SEEDLING GLADIOLI. 
The unexperienced amateur florist can have but a 
faint conception of the striking beauty revealed by a 
collection of seedling Gladioli. In a lot comprising 
about 400 plants, which bloomed for the first time the 
present season, the wonderful diversity of color, shade 
and marking, was a delightful surprise. As many as 
thirty distinct shades of one color alone were counted, 
the various tints of rose, and salmon-rose, were partic¬ 
ularly remarkable, and were lovely in the highest 
degree. The varying form also confers a marked indi¬ 
viduality upon the flowers; some being open, like 
Eugene Scribe; others, with prominent upper petals 
giving the flower a crested appearance ; while others 
display the orthodox shape in forming a symmetrical 
triangle when measured from the extreme tip^ of the 
petals. The markings displayed on white and colored 
grounds are quite as diversified as the shades, and 
assume a multitude of forms. Watching from day to 
day in the blooming season the revelation of this 
kaleidoscopic wealth of color, and feeling that we have 
been a factor in evoking it, is a delight which amply 
compensates the amateur for all his patient labors in 
nursing the little seedlings, and the subsequent care 
they may have occasioned. 
The raising of seedlings is certainly a very fascinating 
experiment to those who take an interest in the Glad¬ 
iolus, the only discouraging feature connected there¬ 
with, that is, to indolent amateurs, being the length of 
time required to reach the blooming stage, which is 
usually three years. 
Having practiced with satisfactory success a mode of 
raising seedlings, by which the growth of two years 
may be gained in one, I will briefly describe it. To begin, 
it is absolutely necessary to procure good seed, which is 
readily obtained from first-class houses, or may be 
ordered direct from noted growers, who make a spec¬ 
ialty of the Gladiolus. With me the finest varieties in a 
very good collection of named flowers, comprising about 
100 sorts, are permitted to produce seed, or, at least, 
those among them that are obliging enough to do so, for 
I have observed that many choice kinds like Meyerbeer, 
Allen, Martha Washington and others have never yet 
given me seeds. In this latitude (Canada) the seed 
ripens about the end of September, is gathered and at 
once sown in shallow boxes of earth. The boxes are 
about seven by twelve inches square and three inches 
in depth, and contain about 100 plants each, for the seed 
may be sown thickly. When sown they are thoroughly 
watered, and subsequently through the winter as 
occasion demands, not however, keeping them over 
moist. The little boxes are placed in the window of an 
upper chamber, which is heated only by a pipe passing 
through, and there pass the winter. The seed germi¬ 
nates quickly, and the plants grow so well that when 
spring arrives they have attained the heighth of ten 
inches or more, with bulbs quite as large as those of 
seedlings grown in open ground one season. In the 
spring the boxes are placed in the hot-bed, and as soon 
as the weather will permit, the little seedlings are trans¬ 
planted to a somewhat sheltered bed in the garden, 
where they remain until the following autumn, and 
when then taken up are found to equal, if they do not 
surpass in size, those of two summers’ growth. The 
following spring they are planted in open ground, and 
an important percentage are certain to give flowers. 
Thus it may be seen that the facilities for raising seed¬ 
lings to bloom in two years, instead of three, are neither 
expensive nor complicated, and are at the command of 
the humblest amateur, provided he possesses a little of 
that love for flowers which ever lightens the labor. 
Experience teaches that the culture of the Gladiolus 
is extremely simple; that it is a plant not at all exacting 
in its requirements, and will flourish even in ordinary 
soil, though when the soil is light and moderately rich, 
success is more certain. In order to hasten the season 
of bloom, and to secure a few extra early flowers, corms 
may be planted in the hot-bed, and when the weather 
becomes sufficiently warm, can be transplanted to the 
open ground without that excess of delicate precaution 
required by many other flowers. No plant will submit 
to rough handling with greater equanimity than the 
Gladiolus. It may be pulled up without ceremony, and 
will complacently go on growing with the most stolid 
indifference as to the primitive manner in which it may 
have been transferred to its new quarters. I should 
strongly advise planting the Gladiolus not less than five 
or six inches in depth, thereby securing greater immu- 
munity from the prostrating effects of the usual summer 
droughts, as well as to secure the formation of well- 
developed corms. 
The spawn or tiny bulblets which form at the base of 
the parent plants, should be saved, though many persons 
complain that they cannot succeed in getting them to 
grow. By removing the shell-like covering just previous 
to planting not one will fail to germinate. As a matter 
of course, this is a tedious operation, yet when it may be 
desirable to increase the stock of choice sorts, it is well 
worth while to take the extra trouble. When it is a 
question of large quantities of bulblets, they may be 
spread out on a table, and gently rolled with an ordinary 
rolling pin (should the lady who wields it consent to 
have it thus desecrated) so as to crack the shells without 
crushing the germ; this is a delicate operation, but with 
practice can be successfully performed. 
Stock may also be increased by cutting the larger 
corms in two, and very large ones in three, and even 
four pieces, taking care to include a section of the circle 
on the under surface, from which the roots are 
emitted. These fragments will grow and thrive like per¬ 
fect corms. When plants are taken up in the autumn, 
should the stalks still be green and sappy, it will not 
be advisable to cut them away at once. Time should be 
given for the corms to absorb the sap, but when the 
stalks become withered they may be cut off. 
Cross fertilizing experiments with plants reserved for 
seed may be attempted with pleasing results, as a rule 
selecting for the purpose dissimilar flowers. In order 
to prevent self-fertilization, and to secure perfect 
crosses, it is better to proceed before the flower to be 
experimented upon is fully expanded, gently opening 
