256 HORTICULTURE [FLO WEES, furnished below with some bushy foliage plants, between which their spikes of brilliant flowers may appear ; or they may be planted in the mixed border, where clumps of half a dozen roots of one kind have a much finer appearance than when they are dotted about singly. A deep sandy loam is the best soil for the gladiolus, and this should be trenched up in October and enriched with well-decomposed manure, consisting partly of cow dung, the manure being disposed altogether below the bulbs, a layer at the bottom of theupper trench, say 9 inches from the surface, and another layer at double that depth. The bulbs (technically, corms) should be planted in succes sion at intervals of two or three weeks through the months of March, April, and May. They should be planted about 3 inches deep, a little pure soil or sand being laid over each before the earth is closed in about them, an arrangement which may be advantageously followed with bulbous plants generally. In hot summer weather they should have a good mulching of half-rotten manure, and, as soon as the flower spikes are produced, liquid manure may occa sionally be given them with advantage. The gladiolus is easily raised from seeds, which should be sown in March, in pots of rich soil placed in heat, the pots being kept near the glass after they begin to grow, and the plants being gradually hardened to permit their being placed out-of-doors in a sheltered spot for the summer. In October they will have ripened off, and must be taken out of the soil, and stored in paper bags in a dry room secure from frost. They will have made little bulbs from the size of a hazel nut downwards, [according to their vigour. In the spring they should be planted like the old bulbs, and the larger ones will flower during the season, while the smaller ones must be again harvested and planted out as before. The following are good varieties of their respective colours, but new varieties are continually appearing, which have at least the merit of constitutional vigour : Crimson, Scarlet, Red, <L-c. Horace Vernet, John Waterer, Lord Brid- port. Victory, Virgil, Lord Napier, Hesperia, Magnificent, Astrea, Lycoris, Addison, Meyerbeer. Hose, Salmon, Ac. Figaro, Mons. Legouve, Sappho, Madame" Furtado, Obcron, Grandeur, Ulysse, Milton, Ninon de 1 Enclos, Sir Joseph Paxton. Purple. Antiope, Eugene Scribe, Robert Fortune, Lacejoede, Thomas Methveu, Madame Vilmorin, La Favorite, Mozart. White ground. Accius, Mrs Reynolds Hole, Reine Blanche, Canova, Hogarth, Osci, Didon, Norms, Sylphide, Madame Adele Souchet, Berthe Rabourdin. Yellow. Citrinus, Nestor, Yellow King, Ophir, Crccsus, Pactolo. Holly- 55. The Hollyhoclc (Althsea rosea), having been already treated hock. of in this volume (page 102), it only remains to add that, though it is a perennial, it is not to be had in perfection unless a supply of young plants is raised annually. The early part of August may be considered- as the season for the blooming of the hollyhock. The following are. a few good sorts for a beginner: Acme, Black Gem, Constance, Conquest,, Ed ward Speed, Eleanor, Emperor, Fire King, Golden Drop, Incomparable, Jessie Dean-, Joshua Clarke, Marvellous, Mr Chater, Octavia. Ruby Queen, Scarlet Gem, Tyrian Prince. Hya- 56. The 7/?/ ^/i(Hyacinthusoricntalis), noticed underthc head- cinth. ing HYACINTH (q.v.), one of the most beautiful and fragrant of the spring flowers, is a native of the Levant, where it occurs abundantly, in form not unlike our common harebell. It has long been a favourite in the East ; but it has been brought to its present arti ficial perfection in Holland, chiefly since the beginning of the last century, and the bulbs are annually imported from Haarlem and its vicinity in very large numbers. The hyacinth delights in a rich light sandy soil. The Dutch in corporate freely with their naturally light soil a compost consisting of one-third coarse sea or river sand, one-third rotten cow dung without litter, and one-third leaf-mould. The soil thus renovated retains its qualities for six or seven years, but hyacinths are not planted upon the same place for two years successively, intermedi ary crops of narcissus, crocus, or tulips being taken. A good com post for hyacinths is sandy loam, decayed leaf-mould, rotten cow dung, and sharp sand in equal parts, the whole being collected and laid up in a heap and turned over occasionally. Well drained beds made up of this soil, and refreshed with a portion of new compost annually, would grow the hyacinth to perfection. The best time to plant the bulbs is towards the end of October ; they should be arranged in rows, 8 inches asunder, there being four rows in each bed. The bulbs should be sunk about 3 or 4 inches deep, with a small quantity of clean sand placed below and around each of them. The beds should be covered with decayed tan-bark, or half-rotten dung litter, and in severe weather may be covered with mats supported on hoops, which may be continued at night when the plants have grown up, but they should have full ex posure to daylight. As the flower-stems appear, they are tied to little rods to preserve them from accident. If the bulbs are at all prized, the stems should be broken off as soon as the flowering is over, so as not to exhaust the bulbs ; the leaves, however, must be allowed to grow on till matured, but as soon as they assume a yellow colour, the bulbs may be taken up, the leaves cut off near their base, and the bulbs laid out in a dry airy shady place to ripen, after which they are cleaned of loose earth and skin, ready for storing. It is the practice in Holland, about a month after the bloom, or when the tips of the leaves assume a withered appearance, to take up the bulbs, and to lay them sideways on the ground, covering them with an inch or two of earth. About three weeks later they are again taken up and cleaned. In the store-room the roots should be kept dry, well-aired, and apart from each other. Few plants are better adapted than the hyacinth for pot culture as greenhouse decorative plants ; and by the aid of forcing they may be had in bloom as early as Christmas. They flower fairly well in 5-inch pots, the stronger bulbs in 6-inch pots. To bloomat Christinas, they should be potted early in September, in a compost resembling that already recommended for the open-air beds ; and, to keep up a succession of bloom, others should be potted at intervals of a few weeks till the middle or end of November. The bulbs should be planted about level with the soil, and if a little sand is put immedi ately around them so much the better. The pots should be set in an open place on a dry hard bed of ashes, and be covered over to a depth of 6 or 8 inches with the same material ; and when the roots are well developed, which will take from six to eight weeks, they may be re moved to a frame, and gradually exposed to light, and then placed in a forcing pit in a heat of from 60 to 70. When the flowers are fairly open, they maybe removed to the greenhouse or conservatory. The hyacinth may be very successfully grown in glasses for orna ment in dwelling houses. The glasses are filled to the neck with rain water, a few lumps of charcoal being dropped into them. The bulbs are placed in the hollow provided for them, so that their base just touches the water. This may be done in September or October. They are then set in a dark cupboard for a few weeks till roots are freely produced, and then gradually exposed to light. There are both single and double-flowered varieties, but the single are generally preferred, as the bells are arranged more closely, so that they form a better spike than the doubles. A few good sorts aro named below : Blues. Of singles Argus, Charles Dickens, Grand Lilas, Haydn, Lord Palmerston, Orondates, Baron von Tuyll, Bleu Morant, Leonidas, General Havelock, Fcruck Khan, Von Humboldt ; the last three very dark. Of doubles Laurens Koster, Van Speyk, Bloksberg. Whites. Of singles Grand Vainqueur, Mont Blanc, Queen of the Nether lands, Grand Vedette, Madame Van der Hoop, La Franchise, La Grandesse, Elfrida (blush), Grandeur a Merveille (blush), alba maxima, Mirandoline, Queen Victoria. Of doubles La Tour d Auvergue, Prince of Waterloo, J enny Lind. Yellows. Of singles Ida, Bird of Paradise, Due de Malakoff (striped with red). Of doubles Jaune Supreme, Ophir d Or, Croesus. To these may be added the early-flowering single white Roman hyacinth, a small-growing pure white variety, remarkable for its fragrance, and well adapted for forcing, as it can be had in bloom if required by November. For windows it grows well in the small glasses commonly used for crocuses ; and for decorative purposes should be planted about live bulbs in a 5-inch pot, or in pans holding a dozen each. If grown for cut flowers it can bo planted thickly in boxes of any convenient size. 57. The Iris family includes a large number of kinds of various Iris, habit and character, all of them being plants of exceeding beauty, and remarkable for their brilliant colours, and for having the three outer segments of their flowers reflexed. There are two well-distin guished groups called the bulbous and the rhizomatous. Tin 1 hardier bulbous irises, including the Spanish iris (I. Xiphimu), and the English iris (I. xiphioides), require to be planlcd in thoroughly drained beds in very light open soil, moderately en riched, and should have a rather sheltered position. Both these pre sent along scries of beautiful varieties of the most diverse colours, flowering in June and July, the smaller Spanish iris being the earlier of the two. There arc many other smaller species of bulbous iris. Being liable to perish from excess of moisture, they should have a well-drained bed of good but porous soil made up for them, in some sunny spot, and in winter should be protected by a 6-inch covering of half-decayed leaves or fresh cocoa-fibre refuse. To this set belong I. persica, reticulata, filifolia, Histrio, juncca, and others. The herbaceous perennial irises, known commonly as the flag irises, are for the most part of the easiest culture ; they grow in any good free garden soil, the smaller and more delicate species only needing the aid of turfy ingredients, either peaty or loamy, to keep it light and open in texture. The earliest to bloom are the forms of Iris pumila, which blossom during March, April, and May, and are quite dwarf in habit. I. susiana and I. iberica, with singularly mottled flowers, also dwarf in habit, bloom in April and May ; and during the latter month and the following one most of the larger species, such as I. germanica, florentina, pallida, variegata, amcena, flavescens, sambucina, neglecta, ruthenica, &c., produce their gorgeous flowers. Of many of the foregoing there are, besides the typical form, a con siderable number of named garden varieties. The beautiful Japanese Iris Krempferi is of comparatively modern introduction, and though of a distinct type is equally beautiful with the better known species. In their outer segments they are rather spreading than deflexed, forming an almost circular flower, which becomes quite so in some of the very remarkable duplex varieties, in which six of these broad segments are produced instead of three. Of this too there arc numberless varieties cultivated under names.
They require a sandy peat soil, on a cool moist subsoil.
