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The well known Marie Lemoine was one of the earliest varieties of this new hybrid, and its dark velvet spots on a ground of pale yellow slightly tinged with green, have caused some to call it the "pansy gladiolus." Lemoine's next achievement was the Nanceianus, probably from Nancy, his home.

They are admirably suited for window and greenhouse culture and are interesting subjects for interbreeding, though no startling results should be expected. The winter-blooming varieties grown by florists, such as the Bride, Delicatissima, and Peach Blossom, belong to the hybrid section known as Gladiolus Colvillii, which is, without doubt, a hybrid between G. cardinalis and G. tristis.

But since most of the sterile hybrids are only known to us in a single individual and its vegetative offspring, this surmise offers an explanation of the rare occurrence of sports. Finally, we must consider some of the so called hybrid races or strains of garden-plants. Dahlia, Gladiolus, Amaryllis, Fuchsia, Pelargonium and many other common flowers afford the best known instances.

Besides the masses of ivy, iris and gladiolus, that had been carefully planted long ago in the interstices of the rock, it was draped with a profusion of graceful wild vines and feathery ferns, which half-veiled the marble statue, representing some mythological divinity, that still stood in this lonely retreat.

They had tea in the little garden, where mignonette, stocks, and tobacco plants were in flower, and spikes of early gladiolus were just opening. Yartsev and Kotchevoy could see from Yulia's face that she was passing through a happy period of inward peace and serenity, that she wanted nothing but what she had, and they, too, had a feeling of peace and comfort in their hearts.

To the first meeting that a sweetheart has granted me, I have brought a spray of gladiolus whose throats have the rosy hue of an apricot. We placed them on the window during the night when I forgot them to remember only my love. To-day I would forget my loved one, to recall only the gladiolus. My memory is therefore, if I may so express it, vegetal.

“I like you,” she said fervently. “You remind me of one of Grandma’s sturtions, bright and independent and lively, with a spice and a color to ’em, and Hannah makes you think of one of them tall spikes of gladiolus all fixed up without any smell.” Marcia tried to smile over the doubtful compliment. Somehow there was something about Miranda that reminded her of Mary Ann. Poor Mary Ann!

As he is crossing one of the meadows, however, he notices the profusion of scarlet gladiolus and also observes that the rye and barley grow somewhat sturdier here than in his country; these are the only definite ideas that detach themselves clearly from his seething brain.

The gladiolus comes principally from South Africa, where about fifty species have been discovered. It is also a native of middle Africa, central and southern Europe, Persia, Caucasus, and the country around the eastern end of the Mediterranean. About forty additional species have been found in these localities, and one in Hampshire, England.

Often there will be scores of little fellows the size of a pea, clustered about the larger corms. These should be saved, and planted out next spring. Sow them close together in rows, as you would wheat. The following year they will bloom. So extensively is the Gladiolus grown at the present time that enough to fill a good-sized bed can be bought for a small sum.