Chapter 10

Growing from Bulblets.

Success with the gladiolus depends more upon the use and management of bulblets than upon any other one thing. Let us suppose the case of a person who grows bulbs in his garden for flowers, and saves only the bulbs, allowing the bulblets to go to waste as of no value,--and this is exactly what many people do. What is the result? The bulbs that are saved have bloomed, nearly all of them at least, and consequently they are somewhat flattened in vertical diameter, which is more or less of a falling off from the ideal round or conical shape. These are planted and bloomed the next season, and only the bulbs are saved, as before. This process is repeated year after year, the bulbs becoming gradually thinner and less vigorous, the spikes diminishing in height and the flowers in size, until, by and by, the grower comes to the conclusion that his bulbs have "run out."

Now follows the experience of one who saves the bulblets, or a portion of them. He plants them, and they make bulbs, mostly too small to bloom. The next year these are planted, and in turn make larger bulbs, of blooming size, perfect in form, and capable of yielding spikes of flowers that will be an honor to the varieties from which they were grown.

The first example shows why bulbs deteriorate when only bulbs are saved, and the second, how to keep them up to a high standard of vigor by renewing them from time to time with bulblets.

As success with bulbs depends largely upon the use and management of bulblets, so success with bulblets depends, to a great extent, upon the care given them while out of the ground. This has been dwelt upon in a former chapter, and may be still further emphasized to good advantage. Bulblets may easily be kept too dry, and herein lies the principal danger. They should not be stored where artificial heat can reach them nor where they are exposed to drafts of air. The effect of drying, as previously explained, is to harden the coverings, and render it difficult for the sprouts to make their way out. It is best never to let them get dry from the time they are taken up till they are planted. There is but little risk of keeping them too damp, and yet this is possible, as, for instance, when the receptacles in which they are stored are allowed to stand on a wet cellar bottom. In such a case a large part of them will grow before they can be planted, and so be lost. On account of the necessary dampness to which they are exposed through the winter, they should be planted early, four or five weeks before corn planting time, if weather and condition of soil permit. The bulblets of some varieties sprout early and at a low temperature, and an active effort should be made to get them into the ground before this comes to pass. The soil may be too cold to start the majority into growth, but the shells will still be softening and getting ready to grow as soon as there is sufficient warmth.

The growing of bulbs from bulblets is such an important part of the business that it seems best to describe the process in detail, even at the risk of some repetition. The ground used for this purpose should be level, or as nearly so as possible, to guard against washing, and the soil should be made very fine. The rows should be made straight, of uniform depth, about two inches, and rather broad, so as to give a good width of bottom surface. If horse labor is to be employed in the cultivating, the rows will need to be from thirty to thirty-six inches apart; if a wheel hoe is to be used, eighteen inches will be ample, and when land is precious the space may be diminished to fifteen inches, or even twelve, though the latter is too narrow for convenience. The bulblets should be screened through sieves of different meshes, so as to have each size by itself, in order that the growth may be uniform.

Sow them very thick in the row, from one hundred to three hundred to the foot, and have the bulbs average half an inch in diameter. They seem to do best when very thick in the row, perhaps because there is such a mass of stem that they can lift up the covering of earth and come through with ease. Whenever I have sown them thin, with a view to obtaining larger bulbs, I have been disappointed. They seem to exhaust their energy in pushing their way out of the shells and up through the soil, and their subsequent growth is not strong enough to be satisfactory. As a rule, it is the object of the grower simply to change the bulblets into bulbs, without special regard to size, but even if the latter were the chief consideration, the end would probably be better attained by close sowing. What they lose by crowding each other seems to be more than made up by their mutual help in overcoming the obstacles which they encounter in starting.

After the bulblets are sown, cover them slightly with the foot, treading the earth directly over the rows. Next, sow a complete fertilizer, at the rate of a thousand pounds to the acre, along the rows in the tracks made by the foot and then draw the soil from both sides over the fertilizer, making quite a ridge above each row. In small areas this work may be done with the hoe, but in large ones it is better to use the cultivator with the wings attached, as in covering bulbs. As soon as the weeds start on the ridges, they should be lightly stirred with a steel rake. A fine harrow or weeder may be used on large plantations, if preferred. This stirring destroys the weeds over the rows before the bulblets are fairly sprouted. A little later, when the shoots are nearly ready to come through the ground, go over the rows again with the steel rake, and level them down. This kills the second growth of weeds, makes the surface clean for the young plants, and does away with the first weeding, which is a costly item. It is important that this second stirring be done at the right time. If too early, weeds will come up in the rows with the bulblets; if too late, some of the young, tender shoots may be injured.

If there is reason to think the bulblets too dry at planting time, they may be put into sacks and soaked in water a day or two. In fact, however well they may have been kept through the winter, it is not a bad plan to soak them before planting. This gives the shells a more thorough moistening than they could get in storage or in the ground, and this cuts short the time required to soften them, and accelerates the coming up by just so much. Some growers spread them on the cellar floor, wet them, and cover with burlap. They are stirred every day, and kept moist until they begin to sprout, when they are planted.

A bed of bulblets should receive the most thorough and careful cultivation from the time the little shoots appear until the crop is ready to be harvested. The surface should be stirred often to keep down the weeds and encourage a steady and vigorous growth. Inasmuch as the product is a valuable one, it pays to give it every advantage. The work of harvesting is described at length under the head of "Digging and Curing."

There is one curious fact connected with bulblets, which is worth mentioning. Although they need the most judicious care when out of the ground, if best results are to be attained, their vitality and tenacity of life are such that they may be left around, exposed to all kinds of weather, and treated with perfect neglect, and yet, when they come in contact with the earth some of them will grow. I recall an instance of a barrel of bulblets that stood in a shed through two winters and one summer, and when the second spring came they were poured out on the ground, and probably twenty per cent of them sprouted.

(See further Notes Pages 95-100)