THE GLADIOLUS. 
My first experience of any importance -with Gladioli 
dates back to several years, and was Ihe result of an 
order, sent to Mr. C. L. Allen, for mixed seedlings, and 
a smaller lot received at the same time from Mr. Vick. 
The writer looks upon those investments as two of the 
happiest he ever made, and never since has a similar, 
nor have even greater outlays afforded a tithe of the 
pleasure derived from those flowers. Up to that time, 
his knowledge of the Gladiolus had been confined to a 
few ordinary varieties of mediocre beauty. The won¬ 
derful and varied display of colors, presented by his new 
acquisition, delighted the unsopliisticated amateur with 
a power and inti nsity that beauty, united to the charm 
of novelty, alone can confer: and though, from year to 
year, he has since added to his collection flowers of a 
merit incontestibly superior, yet their splendor of dye 
and faultless perfection of form fail to excite that ardent 
admiration of other days evoked by the less pretentious 
seedlings. 
The very remarkable improvements in the Gladiolus 
of late years render it one of our mcst attractive flowers, 
and it has now acquired a very prominent position, both 
for decorative and exhibition purposes. The increased 
attention directed to it in this country is due, in a great 
measure, to the persistent and painstaking efforts of 
several leading American florists to bring out new varie¬ 
ties by cross-fertilization. No doubt this, with many of 
them, has been a labor of love, and to judge from the 
perfect specimens we now so frequently see, their work 
has been crowned with signal success. At the present 
time there are in the hands of Messrs. Allen, Vick, Hal- 
lock, and others, collections of American seedling Gladi¬ 
oli, which offer an endless range of color and in all the 
essential qualities which goto form perfect flowers, may 
safely challenge comparison with the finest foreign 
sorts. A limited number of these, with striking and 
distinctive characteristics, have already been named 
and sent out; others of equal beauty are soon to follow. 
As a matter of course, these, for some lime to come, will 
necessarily be somewhat expensive. Yet great results 
may be obtained at moderate cost from mixed uunamed 
seedlings. A colh ctiou of such, obtained last spring 
from C. L. Alien, have given unmixed pleasure through¬ 
out the blooming season. 
No more delightful surprises can possibly be in store 
for lovers of the Gladiolus, than those afforded by a bed 
of seedlings. Such a collection might be termed a floral 
lottery, with this essential difference to distinguish it 
from ordinary lotteries, that one never draws a blank. 
All prove beautiful enough to please the most fastidious, 
whilst many of them are of surprising loveliness. 
To watch day by day the gradual unfolding of the 
pointed waxen buds, revealing the mcst brilliant colors 
displayed in blended shades and lints and bizaire maik- 
ings. is a pleasure enhanced by the novel and unexpected 
combinations brought to view. The wide range of color 
embraces every intei mediate shade, from the most deli¬ 
cate lint to decided and intensely brilliant hues. 
A dozen of superior named Gladioli, though compara¬ 
tively low in price, might include Addison, Brenclilcy- 
ensis, Ceres, Chas. Dickens, Eugene Scrabe, Ida, Madame 
Haquin, Lord Byron, John Bull, Meyerbeer, Reine Vic¬ 
toria and Princess of Wales. These are very beauti¬ 
ful, and could not fail to give perfect satisfaction. 
F. Lance. 
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
"When all outside blossoms have faded or are cut down 
by frost, when the time of Roses is past and the fogs of 
November embrace us against our will, then a gleam of 
floral sunshine ccmes Ircm the celestial empire, and 
we welcome it under the homely name of Gold-Flower, 
or Chrysanthemum. The Chrysanthemum is, or may 
be, everybody’s flower, since all may grow it in win¬ 
dows. in gardens, or by sunny walls; but it is as a winter¬ 
blooming conservatory plant, and as a florist’s flower, 
that we now more especially wish to speak of it. If 
you wish to see the Chrysanthemum of the “fancy.” 
you may find it portrayed by the late Mr. Andrews in 
the pages of the Flori t or in the Flcral Magazine, in 
the form of a cricket ball, perhaps larger, and with its 
rounded florets arranged as symmetrically as slates on 
a roof. This regularity seems to me the keystone of 
the florist’s faith ; this one word “ symmetry,” and the 
harm it has wrought in our gardens, is far more than 
I or anyone else can ever hope to tell. And so the 
Chrysanthemums of the florist were ever symmetrical, 
as were his Tulips, and Dahlias, and all other of Nature’s 
floweis with which he dealt. It is nearly half a centuiy 
since seedling Chrysanthemums were first raised in 
English gardens, and lam not now aware that a solitary 
seedling having what we call single flowers was saved 
during the whole of that time. It was much the same 
with Dahlias; only double-flowered varieties were saved 
from the holocaust of the florist’s fancy. No Herod 
was ever 60 frantic a slayer of the first-born as has been 
the raiser of new florist’s flowers. No man could, I 
feel sure, have helped botany and physiological research 
more than the florist had he so willed it, and I will 
venture to say, no class of men has given it less real 
aid. Who shall tell us how long the florist blundered 
along “the Primrose path,” saving the symmetrical 
thrum-eyed flowers and throwing away the long styled 
forms, and yet he never, never even guessed the secret 
that Darwin discovered as to the sexual relations of 
these long and short-s'tyled forms. The Arabs have a 
proverb, “He that hath great knowledge binds it as a 
