Forty species; many varieties. Chiefly green-house, and a few hardy bulbous perennials.

G. cardinalis. On the culture of this we have the following information from Mr. A. Mackenzie and Mr. Gordon: -

"Gladiolus cardinalis, and its hybrids, are the next in beauty to G. psittacinus, but they are not so hardy nor so vigorous. They require taking up every season; for if left in the ground, though protected with a covering, they always suffer from damp, and never start early enough to flower well the next season.

"About the beginning of October, to propagate them, take from well-established plants a cluster of corms about one and a half or two feet in circumference, and plant them one foot apart, and two or three inches deep, in beds two feet wide, with a little sand at the bottom of the bulbs. When forced, this plant forms a brilliant ornament for the green-house in the beginning of summer.

"In the month of October take eight or twelve-sized pots, and fill them with as large a mass of the strongest corms as the pots will admit, and protect them till they are required for forcing." - Gard. Chron.

"Gladiolus psittacinus or natalensis, is one of the most ornamental of the Cape gladioli, and, from its easy cultivation, deserves to have a place in all flower-gardens where a brilliant display is required during the autumn. Beds should be prepared some time during the winter, or early in the spring, by digging up the soil deep and leaving it rough, adding, at the same time, a good portion of well-rotted dung and a little sand, if the soil is of a stiff nature; but if light, sand is not required.

"About the middle of April mark out the bed into rows, one foot apart and four inches deep, putting a little sand along the bottom of the rows; then place the bulbs in the rows, about nine inches or one foot apart, taking care to separate all the bulbs, and only plant one in each place; then, having a little sand (any refuse from cutting pots, or bank-sand, will do), put a small portion round each bulb, and fill in the rows. After this the plants will require no further trouble except keeping clean and tying up, which latter is easily done by driving a few sticks round the outside of the bed, and running a couple of tiers of tar-twine round it. With this treatment the gladioli will begin flowering about the end ot July, and will continue blooming for nearly two months, particularly if they are freely supplied with water once or twice (as the season may require) just before they begin to expand their first flowers. Care must be taken, however, not to water them overhead.

"The bulbs to be taken up about the end of October, or as soon as the stems and leaves become brown or damaged by the frost. They must be well dried, and placed in some situation secure from frost or damp until the next spring, when they must be divided, and again treated as before. The large bulbs will also produce numerous offsets round their root-end; but these are of little value, for they will be two or three years before they flower; and as every flowering bulb planted in the spring produces three or four bulbs of sufficient size to bloom next season, from the crown of the old one, there is always enough for all purposes. The plant also flowers freely; but the small bulbs and the seedlings will be so long before they flower, that they are not worth the trouble of raising, except for the sake of obtaining new varieties." - Gard. Chron.

"Gladiolus ramosissimus is the next most beautiful kind for growing either in pots or in a bed. The bulbs of these hardier kinds should be taken up every two years, divided, and replanted, as they will not flower so finely if left too long in one place.

"They require a rich soil, made rather free by adding a little sand to it when the bulbs are being planted. By this treatment nearly all the cape gladioli may be made to flower beautifully, and far finer and better than if retained in pots. They are easily increased by offsets or by seeds; but the latter way is rather tedious, and only worth resorting to for the sake of raising new varieties. When this is intended, the seed should be sown about the end of February, in pans filled with a mixture of sandy peat, and loam, and leaf-mould. The seeds should be planted about half an inch deep in the soil, and the pans placed in a green-house. - They will soon vegetate, and require little trouble, for the first season, except watering and keeping free from slugs and weeds, taking care, how-ever, that they are kept growing as vigorously and as long as possible by freely supplying them with water during the growing season. When they have done growing for the season, care must be taken not to dry the soil in the pans too quickly or too much; for the young bulbs, being very small, are apt to become much exausted, and frequently perish if kept very dry the first winter. They should be, if possible, placed in some cool, dry situation, where they are secure from frost.

In the spring they should be again placed in a green-house or warm pit, and, when fairly started, they should be carefully removed into fresh pans or pots, being rather a richer soil than that used for the seeds, planting them still rather thickly in the pots or pans, and keeping them shut up close and rather moist for a few days, until they begin to grow again, after which treat them as before, and encourage them to grow as long as possible in the autumn, then rest them as before. The next spring they may be potted in smaller pots, and treated like the Gladiolus cardinalis, when many of them will flower." - Gard. Chron.