GLADIOLUS.* 
179 
it has been in our collections for nearly a century is still rather 
scarce. With this collection much might be done in the way 
of further improving the varieties of this flower; as nearly 
the whole of them seed freely with us; they may be grown with 
as little or less trouble than a bed of tulips. The situation they 
are grown in should be open and airy ; the soil should be a 
mixture of sandy peat, loam, and old leaf-mould, in about equal 
parts, well chopped and incorporated. This soil should be ten 
inches or a foot thick, and if a stratum of old turf from a pas¬ 
ture be well chopped and laid in the bottom of the bed it will 
materially assist the plants in their greatest need, that is, just 
at the season of flowering : if turf is not to be had conveniently, 
cow-dung is equally efficient. The roots may be planted about 
the middle of March, three inches from the surface of the soil 
to the crown of the root. The best method of planting is to 
remove the entire surface of the bed to the depth required, and 
after having placed the roots in their respective places, return 
the earth over them. The worst possible way of planting any 
bulb is with the dibble : this forms an incrustation round the 
sides of the hole, in which the water collects and remains im¬ 
mediately beneath the bulb, to the great injury of the first 
spongioles produced by the plant; it should therefore never be 
used for the planting of such roots. 
It may at first sight appear difficult to the uninitiated how to 
ascertain the position of the bulb in order to name them after 
covering them in the manner recommended; this may be easily 
known if the bed is square, by the method we mentioned in the 
first volume of the Journal, at the article on Ranunculus; and 
if the bed is circular or of an irregular form, a sketch of the bed 
might be taken on paper, and the respective situation of the 
bulbs marked on it as the roots are planted, thus avoiding the 
unsightly appendage of label sticks. 
It is when the plants have attained their full size and are pro¬ 
ducing flowers that the lower part of the foliage fails (if at all) ; 
this, as we before remarked, is occasioned by drought, and as a 
preventive we recommend the turf in the bottom of the bed; 
but the plants may be assisted a good deal by placing round the 
stems, and covering the surface of the bed with pieces of rough 
hewn stone, shells, &c., and by interspersing the whole with 
moss; or by sowing the bed over with a small creeping annual ; 
