Chapter 9

Growing from Seed.

There is great satisfaction in growing the finest gladioli that have ever been produced in all the world. The consciousness that one has the best obtainable gives pleasure, but raising seedlings of one's own, knowing that they are different from any others, that no two are exactly alike, and that among them may be one or more of the very finest, and ultimately finding this possibility realized, is one of the greatest delights in horticulture. One ounce of good seed will produce about three thousand bulbs, and among them will be found a large number of fine varieties. If the seed is from choice stock, with no common varieties near, most of the seedlings will be worth saving. So I advise every grower to raise seedlings. They will yield both pleasure and profit. Some years ago I bought all the seed that was offered by the pound in America and Europe, about thirty pounds, and no one but myself ever knew the satisfaction that came from that investment. At another time I was growing a bed of seedlings and the grasshoppers cut them off at the ground early in the summer. I supposed that they were ruined and went to plant something else on the bed a week or two later, when, to my surprise, I found small bulbs, about the size of apple seeds. I saved them with great care, sixteen thousand in number, and planted them the next spring. They made a fine growth and nearly all bloomed the year following. The pleasure they gave, not only to myself, but to my friends, paid many fold for the time spent on them, and more than made up for the disappointment I had felt when I thought the grasshoppers had destroyed them.

The gladiolus opens its first flower in the morning, and the work of going over a bed containing hundreds that have just bloomed for the first time, and marking the finest with tags upon which are inscribed a few characters that mean much to the owner, and almost nothing to anyone else, will give one an undercurrent of joy for the rest of the day. Another special pleasure that comes to the grower of choice seedlings is that of naming one for a friend, and this pleasure has been mine a number of times. The most notable example of this is the May, and I fully expect that some of those which have scarcely been heard of as yet will become equally as popular as that well-known variety.

In growing seedlings, it is best to use land that is nearly or quite level, so that it cannot wash. The soil should be thoroughly pulverized, and enriched by the use of some complete commercial fertilizer scattered over the surface at the rate of six or seven pounds to the square rod, and well stirred in. Then make drills twelve inches apart, from one to two inches wide, and half an inch deep. These drills should be laid out cross-wise of the bed, and may be made by gently pressing a narrow strip of board into the mellow earth. Sow the seed thick enough to cover the bottom of the drill, and sprinkle over it fine earth to the depth of three-fourths of an inch. This should be pressed down with the foot or a roller, so that it will be only half an inch thick over the seeds.

Some provision must now be made for keeping the surface of the bed moist until the seed comes up, which requires two or three weeks under favorable conditions, and may take much longer. If the surface dries after the seeds sprout, they are likely to perish. The best way to prevent this is to furnish shade. For a small bed, a piece of burlap spread over it, and kept in position by a stone at each corner, is excellent. I have generally used a light covering of straw, held in place with strips from the planing mill. Another method of keeping the straw in place is by stretching binder twine directly over the row. When the young plants appear, a straight edge is placed just outside of the row, and the straw is cut through with a sharp knife, first on one side and then on the other. The part over the row is then removed, and the rest left for a mulch. There are, however, two objections to the use of straw as a covering: moles sometimes work under it, heaving up the ground to the detriment of the crop, and it nearly always contains objectionable seeds. One of the most extensive growers in my acquaintance shades his seed beds with the shallow crates in which he stores bulbs through the winter.

After the seedlings come up they should be kept perfectly free from weeds, and the surface should be stirred frequently. In an ordinary season the bulbs will run from one-fourth to one-half inch in diameter, and with the best possible opportunity they will grow somewhat larger.

Seedlings should be taken up as soon as they show the first sign of ripening, i. e., when their tops begin to turn yellow. The reasons why this work should be done early are given under the head of "Digging and Curing," which also describes in detail the mode of doing it. Most of the earth falls off in the process of taking up the bulbs and pulling them from the stems, and the rest is sifted out. The bulbs are then put into flats, an inch or two deep, and allowed to dry. Sometimes they are dried with the tops on, and kept in that condition till planting time, but most growers prefer to take them off when green.