. The Book of gardening; a handbook of horticulture. Gardening; Floriculture. 84 THE BOOK OF GARDENING'. should be done on successive days, until the entire spike has been cross-fertihsed. I have tried growing the Gladiolus in flower-pots, but do not recommend this method, as it is rather troublesome, and not very satisfactory as to results. I have had considerable experi- ence in purchasing new varieties of Gladiolus, and had always to make up my mind for some losses. The plants would sometimes die off in a manner not to be accounted for, and sometimes when the blossoms were just on the point
. The Book of gardening; a handbook of horticulture. Gardening; Floriculture. 84 THE BOOK OF GARDENING'. should be done on successive days, until the entire spike has been cross-fertihsed. I have tried growing the Gladiolus in flower-pots, but do not recommend this method, as it is rather troublesome, and not very satisfactory as to results. I have had considerable experi- ence in purchasing new varieties of Gladiolus, and had always to make up my mind for some losses. The plants would sometimes die off in a manner not to be accounted for, and sometimes when the blossoms were just on the point of opening. In the year 1875, quite half of a collection of Gladiolus of considerable value died off. It is very annoying to lose valuable plants in this way; but it is owing to a con- siderable extent to insufficiently decayed manure coming into contact with the roots ; and as seedlings—^at least to the extent of fifty per cent.—are as good as the parents, and a hundred or more plants can be obtained from one spike, it seems foolishness to spend money on expensive named varieties. It would not serve any useful purpose to give a long list of named varieties; this must be left for the "; Any good seedsman could supply a dozen or more of the best sorts in the season. I advise amateurs to get a dozen of the best, and raise seedlings from them. The seedlings, alter flowering for two or three seasons, have a tendency, as well as the purchased named varieties, to degenerate. The leaves of the Gladiolus remain green till very late in the autumn, but they should be lifted from the middle to the end of October. As they are forked out of the ground, cut the stalk off close to the crown, shake off the adherent soil, saving the small bulblets (Fig. 43), or "spawn," clustering round the base of the parent corm, spread the corms out to dry in an airy place, and when well dried, store in boxes or bags until planting time; but they must not be exposed to frost
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