[Illustration: Gladiolus.]
In our climate there is no part of the garden more gay during the month
of August and continuing often into September than the bed devoted to
the Sword Lilies, as the Gladiolus is commonly called. Such has been the
improvement wrought by skillful hybridization that we have now an almost
endless variety of colors and markings, many of which are exceedingly
beautiful. They are the offspring of two species, G. floribundus, which
is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and was brought to England about
the year 1788; and G. psittacinus, a native of Port Natal, from whence
it was brought in 1829. The first hybrid was raised on the continent of
Europe, and received the name of G. Gandavensis, from the town of Ghent.
The hybrid variety has been found to cross freely with all other
varieties and with some of the species, and to this we owe the many
beautiful and showy varieties which we now possess.
[Illustration: Gladiolus.]
There are many other species of Gladiolus than the two above named, some
of which are hardy, while many of them are so tender as to require
greenhouse culture. Johnson mentions in his Gardener’s Dictionary more
than fifty different species and sub-species. These have been laid under
contribution by those who have interested themselves in the improvement
of this flower, and so far as has been found practicable, made to
contribute to the beauty of our garden hybrids.
These garden varieties thrive best in a rich well drained loam; soils
that are cold and wet are not suited to them. If one can command a good
loamy soil, with a porous gravelly sub-soil, he may be sure of growing
these beautiful flowers in their greatest perfection. However, such a
soil is not by any means indispensable, the writer having grown them for
many years with very good success where the sub-soil was a very firm
sandy hard-pan. In preparing beds for the Gladiolus it is necessary to
avoid all fresh, partially fermented or undecomposed manures, for these
tend to produce disease in the bulbs, or properly speaking, corms.
Thoroughly rotted cow-dung is the best manure for them. An excellent
compost is formed by putting up a heap of sods in alternate layers with
cow-dung, and when the sods have become rotten, mixing the heap
thoroughly together. It is well to spade a good dressing of this into
the bed intended for the Gladiolus in the fall, leaving the surface
rough during winter, and then spading it again in the spring just before
planting them out. In this way the manure becomes thoroughly mingled
with the soil.
After the weather has become settled and danger of severe frost is past,
the corms may be safely planted out, say ten inches apart each way, and
four or five inches deep. Our seasons are often very dry, and when
planted deep the Gladiolus do not suffer from the drouth as much as if
set more shallow. If it is desired to keep up a succession of bloom,
plantings may be made every fortnight until the middle of June. As soon
as the plants appear above ground they will require to be carefully hoed
and the ground loosened and stirred. This should be done occasionally
during the growing season, in order to keep down the weeds and the
ground loose, so that air and moisture may penetrate. Unless the plants
are actually dying from drouth it is not desirable to water them.
As soon as the stalks and leaves turn yellow in the fall, or the frost
has killed them, the corms should be taken up, spread in the sun and
dried rapidly. The stalks should be cut off about an inch from the
crown, the corms separated, the larger packed in a box with dry sand and
stored in some cool dry place that is perfectly free from frost, and if
it is desirable to multiply them as fast as possible, the little tiny
bulblets that will be found at the base of the large ones may be saved,
put up in paper bags and stored away where they will keep safely not
only through the winter but also through the summer and the succeeding
winter until another spring. If these little things are planted out the
first spring, hardly one in a hundred will grow, but if they are kept
over until the second spring not one in a thousand will fail to grow and
form corms that will bloom the following summer.
Our climate is much better suited to the cultivation of the Gladiolus
than that of Europe. The seedlings that are raised in America are much
finer than theirs, and if our amateurs would turn their attention to the
selection and hybridization of this flower, we would soon have a much
better race than any that can be imported. If the seed be gathered and
sown as soon as ripe it grows readily, and if one has a greenhouse may
be kept growing, with short intervals of rest, and made to bloom in less
than two years. The seed may be kept until spring, and sown in boxes by
those who do not have the convenience of a greenhouse, and made to bloom
the third year.
Except for those who make a specialty of this flower, there is nothing
gained by purchasing named varieties at high prices. A dozen of mixed
colors of very fine varieties, without name, can be purchased for one
dollar, or a mixed dozen of those which have white ground color
variously marked, or pink ground with different colored markings, can be
had for a dollar and a half to two dollars per dozen. These massed in
beds will give as much satisfaction to ordinary cultivators as the named
sorts.
Some idea may be gained of the varied coloring of these flowers by
reading the description of a few of the named sorts which is here given.
Achille; beautiful currant red, with a white stripe in the middle of
each petal.
Antonius; cherry colored, slightly tinged with orange, blazed with
carmine red, with very fine pure white stains.
Ceres; pure white, spotted with purplish rose.
Diomede; white, flamed with crimson, with dark carmine violet blotch.
Eldorado; clear yellow, the lower petals streaked with red.
Fulton; velvety vermillion, with bright purple blotch.
Horace; rich scarlet, large pure white blotch, feathered red.
Rosea Perfecta; fine rose tinted with violet, and white veins on all the
petals.
Vesta; pure white, with purplish carmine blotch on yellow ground.
They are very useful as cut flowers for parlor or dining room
decoration, for if the cut stalks be put in water all the unopened buds
will blossom in succession as though they were yet united to the parent
stem.
The accompanying engravings which we are enabled to place before our
readers, through the courtesy of Mr. Jas. Vick, of Rochester, N. Y.,
give a good representation of the plants when in flower.
[Illustration: The Canadian Horticulturist]
=VOL. I.]= =DECEMBER, 1878.= =[NO. 12.=