DISAPPEARING GLADIOLLTS.
Particular flowers come into fashion in very sudden bout q. owing as a rule to some new development in the bloom. This year the gladioli have been bought (as public sales as well a- more intimate evidence proves) in myriads, and the pick of the newer "creations" have fetched enormous prices this year as last. I have known even a village gardener give lOs. for a bulb, so great was the vogue of the flower, so high the temptation. The brilliance and size of the blooms has been wonderfully increased, and hundreds of hopeful gardeners have expected their gardens to flame year after year with the., new reds and scarlets. But alas for human hopes In the second year not a flower has appeared. All gardeners should realize that the bulbs, especially perhaps the newest, arc not hardy to our climate. The flower itself rejoices in it ; but it is at least as necessary with the gladiolus, as with the dahlia, to take up the bulbs in the winter and keep them cosy till lh time comes for replanting. Well looked after, few flower- L a better return in splendour of hue.
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