September 9, 1911 



HORTICULTURr 



3C5 



GLADIOLUS NOTES FROM MASSA 

 CHUSETTS. 



Editor of HORTICULTURE: 



Will you allow me a bit of your val- 

 uable space in above line, as 1 read 

 wiib much Interest the mos1 excellent 

 notes on Gladioli by .Mr. Hetscher in 

 the September 2 number, and as his 

 productions came along similar lines 

 as I found here, it may be of more 

 than passing inteiest to some others 

 Interested in the same grand piites. 



This >ear, having occasion to test 

 certain s, rains, 1 concluded 1 would 

 make a general test as our firm are in- 

 tending planting a considerable quan- 

 tity another season, as the land in- 

 tended could uot be properly prepared 

 this year on account of shortage in 

 help. I laid off a plot of ground com- 

 prised of several different grades of 

 soil and put in 6,000 plump, healthy 

 bulbs of both American grown and Eu- 

 ropean, and a quantity of African 

 seedlings. These were planted April 

 10, and as the weather came off cold 

 and ground crusted, I said goodby to 

 the bulbs, but a mulch was immedi- 

 ately put on and the plots show no 

 bad effect from the cold except one 

 small space. Soil a rich, rotten slate 

 loam, north exposure, side hill, planted 

 between peach trees, rows 2 feet apart 

 by 6 inches between bulbs, a rate of 

 about 31.470 bulbs to one acre. Another 

 plot was planted at same time, 3 feet 

 between rows and 1 foot apart for 

 bulbs, counting at the rate of 14,520 

 bulbs to the acre, and planted in a 

 rich sandy loam where tomatoes were 

 raised last year and between rows of 

 peach trees. On June 18 the first 

 spikes were cut showing two to three 

 flowers in bloom and buds well col- 

 ored. 



As with Mr. Betscher, 1 find the 

 Lemoines were the the first to open, 

 but Pink Beauty was the first to open 

 flower followed by a lot of Childsii 

 and a variety of unnamed seedlings 

 known only by number. Blushing 

 Bride opened July 2 and is a very love- 

 ly flower of the Delicatessima type. 

 Among our reds I think Princeps, a 

 brilliant scarlet with white throat will 

 be the earliest, but don't care to state 

 definitely till tried out next year. The 

 Excelsior strains did well, having ex- 

 tra long stems, some being cut 4 feet 

 long. Among the American seedlings, 

 the ones from S. C. MGellinger, Calla. 

 Ohio, were the earliest, and had spikes 

 we can ship 1.500 miles and warrant 

 to arrive O. K. We are now shipping 

 cut from his bulbs 500 miles and cut 

 every day through last week's rain. 



This coming season we shall check 

 back all these bulbs and those that 

 prove O. K. will go into our general 

 planting. Mr. Betscher speaks of 

 planting in March! Here in this val- 

 ley of the Merrimac most years they 

 could be planted April 1 on one tract 

 of ground we have, a good sandy loam, 

 well drained, and probably three days 

 earlier. This would give blooms here 

 about June 10 under ordinarj weather 

 conditions, but this year lias been 

 hard on bulbs, on account of the long 

 drought. 



On June S we mulched the plots 

 heavy with sheep manure. Not the 

 sheep manure in bags, but from our 

 sheep pens where the sheep were bed- 

 ded last fall with leaves and straw. 

 We put this between the rows and be- 



GLADIOLUS MRS. FRANK PENDLETON, JR. 



This new gladiolus was the winner 

 of the American Gladiolus Society's 

 first certificate of merit at Baltimore, 

 August 16, J 911, having been shown 

 there by L. Merlon Gage of Orange. 

 Mass., and a few days later it was 

 given a first class certificate of merit 

 by the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety. It is a seedling of Gandavensis 

 X Lemoinei. In color it is one of the 



richest flowers ever produced on a 

 gladiolus — a lovely flushed salmon- 

 pink flower with brilliant carmine 

 blotches reminding one of some of the 

 best fancy pelargoniums. The flowers 

 are very large and open out wide, as 

 the picture shows. The variety was 

 raised by A. E. Kunderd of Goshens, 

 Ind., and is named after a prominent 

 society lady of Bar Harbor, Me. 



tween the plants to the extent of a 

 good three inches deep and gave it a 

 thorough wetting down with water. 

 The ground had been previously 

 weeded and cultivated. The bloom 

 was not a spike here and there but 

 general all through plantings. 



It is a great pity that more notes 

 are not printed in a char, practical 

 line as Mr. Betscher's. but the ten- 

 dency is to print a lot of rot. Only 

 yesterday I read an account of a glad- 

 iolus grower who planted 200,000 

 bulbs to the acre and planted 19 acres, 

 and the notes were sent to the paper 

 by a man that knew better. New 

 there is a chance that the printer 

 made a mistake of 1S0,000 bulbs but 

 no excuse for 19 acres. What a trade 

 journal is for is facts and help to the 

 grower, the wholesaler, and the retail 

 merchant, and not trash. 



CHARLES F. NEWELii. 



West Newbury, Mass. 



H. A. Stevens of Dedham. Mass., is 

 marketing an exceptionally fine gradi 

 of asters grown from seed of his own 

 saving, selection having been made for 

 several years. 



ROYAL INTERNATIONAL HORTI- 

 CULTURAL EXHIBITION, 



The revised schedule for the Inter- 

 national Exhibition, to be held at 

 Chelsea, in May next, is now ready for 

 distribution, and copies may be ob- 

 tained, post free, from T. Geoffrey W. 

 Henslow, Secretary, Royal Interna- 

 tional Horticultural Exhibition, 7, Vic- 

 toria street, Westminster. London. S. 

 W. A preliminary schedule was dis- 

 tributed some months ago for the pur- 

 pose of affording exhibitors some indi- 

 cation of the general nature of the 

 competitive classes, but it was not 

 possible at that time to enumerate the 

 awards. These latter include presen- 

 tation cups offered by His Majesty the 

 King, the Duke of Portland (President 

 of the Exhibition), and others, also a 

 large number of gold and silver med- 

 als. In some of the more exacting 

 classes money prizes accompany the 

 medals, in order that exhibitors may 

 be compensated for expenses necessar- 

 ily incurred. The present schedule 

 contains this information, and it is 

 therefore indispensable to those who 

 contemplate making contributions to 

 the show. 



