Chapter 3

Soils and Preparation.

The gladiolus will grow on almost any soil, and do well with only a moderate chance. While it has its preferences, it readily adapts itself to circumstances, and makes the most of what it finds. Whether sand, clay, gravel, muck or loam, it will get a living out of them, though gravel is perhaps least desirable. The gladiolus withstands drouth very well, but likes plenty of moisture much better, and low land well drained is excellent for it. It ought not to be under water. Good farm land, suitable for corn or potatoes, answers its purpose very well, and it flourishes on green sward properly plowed and harrowed. The richest place in the garden suits it admirably, and it shows its appreciation of special favors by ready response in growth and bloom.

The ground should be plowed or spaded to a good depth, about the same as for potatoes, and harrowed or raked until it is thoroughly pulverized, not only on the surface, but down deep.

Fertilizers.

Any crop can be well fed with good stable manure properly applied, but this is sometimes out of reach. In such cases we must either resort to commercial fertilizers or depend upon the plant food in the soil, which is seldom sufficient for any crop, especially one whose yield of profit may be greatly increased or diminished by the giving or withholding of nourishment. The gardener cannot afford to take any risks along this line. His crops are too valuable. The safe course is for him to assume that the land is poor to consider the ground as simply a place of anchorage for the roots of plants, and a reservoir for plant food to be supplied; and then, to furnish the amount needed to produce the crop. Fortunately, most soils do, as a matter of fact, contain a fair supply of fertility, but very rarely as much as a crop can appropriate, and it is best to be on the safe side. The gladiolus is a sturdy grower, able to assimilate a generous supply of nutriment, and should be properly fed.

In regard to the use of stable manure as a fertilizer for this crop, almost any amount of it may be put on in the fall before planting, to be leached and subdued by the changes of winter, but it is hardly safe to spread it on the ground in the spring and plow it under, lest it come in contact with the bulbs and cause the growing crop to be scabby and unsalable. I have used for many years, and with most satisfactory results, a good potato phosphate. Any complete commercial fertilizer will answer the purpose. I once tried a ton of Peruvian guano, as an experiment, but it did no better than the potato phosphate, which costs less.

Commercial fertilizer may be applied in various ways,--before planting or after, or in the furrows. From five hundred to one thousand pounds per acre, or even more, may be used, according to the previous condition of the land and the results desired. When used before planting, it is put on with a grain drill, or, if the area is small, is raked in by hand. It may be applied in the furrow in two ways--first, strew it along in the bottom and mix it with the soil by dragging a chain or a hoe over it, or by using the cultivator that made the drill. Then plant the bulbs, and cover properly. Second, after the drill is made and the bulbs are dropped, cover them with a little earth, say half the depth of the furrow, then put in the fertilizer by hand, and finish covering. This places it where the first good rain will wash its richness down to the roots. When applied after planting, it may be scattered by hand along the rows or over the bed. This plan produces good results, even on poor land, and the same may be said of the others.