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42 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Afbil 6, 1911. 



tributed, 1,000 copies of Bulletin No. 1, 

 and 2,000 copies of Bulletin No. 2. 

 Several of the latest additions to the 

 membership roll are Holland gladiolus 

 bulb growers. 



The exhibition to be held at Balti- 

 more in August was discussed and plans 

 made for the largest display of cut 

 blooms ever staged by the growers of 

 gladioli. Several special prizes were 

 pledged. It also was recommended by 

 the exhibition committee that all or- 

 ganizations holding shows in season be 

 urged to increase their premiunls for 

 gladioli. The committee, H. Youell, L. 

 Merton Gage and L. B. Judson, also 

 made the following recommendation in 

 regard to 



Bules to govern the awarding of cer- 

 tificates of merit and suggesting a scale 

 of points on judging: 



Your committee feels that this is such 

 a vital and far-reaching matter to those 

 who exhibit seedlings for certificates, 

 and to the many points to be deter- 

 mined upon, that it is best to submit 

 the following, and ask for a full and 

 free discussion, as the best solution of 

 a difficult problem and one which shall 

 be satisfactory to all: 



PROPOSED SCORE CARD FOR GLADIOLI. 



Resistance to disease 5 



Texture of flower 10 



Duration of bloom 10 



Size of bloom 10 



Color of bloom 15 



Form of flower 10 



Form of spike 10 



Stem (length and stiffness) 10 



Number of flowers on spike 16 



Vigor (aside from disease resistance) S 



After considerable discussion the re- 

 port and scale were adopted. 



Prof. A. C. Beal was present, repre- 

 senting the society's trial ground at 

 Cornell University. A letter from Prof. 

 Craig was read, and one from a Euro- 

 pean firm regarding the grading of 

 sizes in quoting prices. The bulletin 

 committee was instructed to get out 

 another issue before the Baltimore 

 meeting. J. Keur, of Hillegom, Hol- 

 land, called attention to what he con- 

 siders the harmful practice of some 

 growers who cut the bloom and later 

 sell the bulb. He also pointed out that 

 some fine varieties never produce large 

 bulbs and that therefore grading mix- 

 tures by size is not desirable. 



GLADIOLUS NOMENCLATURE. 



[Arthur Cowee, Berlin, N. Y., chairman of the 

 Nomenclature Committee of the American Gladio- 

 lus Society, presented the following report and 

 recommendations, which were adopted, at the 

 meeting at Boston March 30.] 



A good physician, before prescribing 

 for his patient, usually makes a diag- 

 nosis of his case and I believe that the 

 same principle should apply to the pres- 

 ent condition of the gladiolus nomen- 

 clature, and, so far as my knowledge 

 goes, I will proceed to diagnose the case. 



Gladioli have been grown for more 

 than a century, but not until a few 

 years ago has there been extraordinary 

 interest taken in their extensive culture, 

 and up to which time there really had 

 been no trouble in the renaming or the 

 duplication of names. From the year 

 1902 to 1907 there were distributed, in 

 this country alone, over one million new 

 seedlings and named novelties of most 

 unusual types, and many bearing colors 

 and combinations of colors never before 

 seen or thought possible by the average 

 grower of this flower. Such stock (and 

 no wonder!) attracted the attention of 

 many growers of other flowers, as well 

 as some who had never grown for the 

 market, immediately after possessing 

 which these new gladiolus growers, 

 without the knowledge of existing va- 



rieties as well as being ignorant as to 

 what had already been done toward 

 naming many of these new seedlings, 

 started in to mark, classify and estab- 

 lish a named list of their own. Under 

 such conditions, is it any wonder that 

 many varieties have been renamed? 

 The wonder to me is that we have not 

 more of them. So much for my version 

 of the cause of renaming. 



In most if not every department of 

 horticulture as well as floriculture, the 

 grower in selecting names for his 

 plants, flowers, fruit, etc., aside from 

 the botanical standpoint, tries, so far 

 as is possible, to select names which 

 will indicate to the purchaser of his 

 product some particularly good attri- 

 bute which his plant, flower or fruit 

 possesses. It may be color^ size, form, 

 or some characteristic which, as said 

 above, he wishes to imply in the name. 

 Now, with this idea in mind, is it any 

 wonder that there are today two, three, 

 or even more varieties of gladioli bear- 

 ing the same namef 



We have now diagnosed these two 

 cases. What remedy, and how shall we 

 apply it? is the question. 



We have a well-organized society, and 

 while as yet but few foreign members, 

 I believe we will be able to secure the 

 cooperation of those foreign growers 

 who may not join our society, and 

 anticipating this, I trust I may be per- 

 mitted to oflEer the following procedure 

 as a remedy and the application of the 

 same. 



First: I would have our society pos- 

 sess, both at the trial grounds and at 

 the office of our secretary, a copy of the 

 catalogue of every gladiolus grower in 

 this country and Europe^ from which a 

 list of all existing varieties, together 

 with descriptions of the same, could be 

 made up and, with many varieties, we 

 could at the same time secure the name 

 of the originator, and also in many 

 cases the year in which the variety 

 was first disseminated. 



Your committee could then easily 

 ascertain where names were duplicated 

 and upon such information request those 

 growers having such varieties to send 

 to the trial grounds three to five bulbs 

 for testing, accompanied with the fol- 

 lowing statement: 



(1) Name of variety; 



(2) Name of grower offering the 

 variety; 



(3) Pull description, including form, 

 color, habit, etc.; 



(4) By whom originated; 



(5) The date or year of introduc- 

 tion. 



With this information and a thorough 

 trial upon the grounds at Ithaca, there 

 should be no doubt as to which grower 

 should be entitled to the use of the 

 disputed name, which should be with- 

 drawn by the other claimants upon the 

 receipt of such request from the super- 

 intendent of the trial grounds, endorsed 

 by the president and secretary of the 

 society. 



The remedy and application of same 

 to the second complication (renaming) 

 is more difficult, the proper adjustment 

 of which will depend largely upon the 

 individual assistance of the members 

 of our society, both professional and 

 amateur. 



To the professional grower I would 

 recommend the following: 



First, when sending out mixtures of 

 any kind, either general or under color 

 selection, that he have printed on the 

 reverse side of every label, a notice 

 that the mixture so offered is either 



composed of named varieties, or seed- 

 lings under process of classification, or 

 botn, and the purchaser should be 

 warned against naming any of such, 

 without first consulting the producer 

 and submitting a spike of the variety 

 which he may wish to name. 



Second, I would recommend, wher- 

 ever or whenever any grower may 

 have knowledge of the renaming of any 

 variety, that he give to the superin- 

 tendent of our trial grounds such in- 

 formation, accompanied with three to 

 five bulbs of the variety so renamed, 

 together with three to five bulbs of the 

 variety bearing the correct name. 



This last suggestion would be equally 

 applicable to the amateur, and by such 

 cooperation I feel sure we would be 

 but a short time in clearing up the 

 gladiolus nomenclature. 



It is true that in the execution of 

 such measures as I have suggested more 

 or less disappointment .is sure to fall to 

 some growers, and I, for one, will be 

 only too glad to take my medicine with 

 a smile, if, in the end, the loyal and 

 enthusiastic amateur as well as the pro- 

 fessional grower can be assured of pro- 

 tection against this practice, the elimi-- 

 nation of which I believe will stimulate 

 greater demand for our favorite flower 

 and which can certainly be accom- 

 plished by our society, but only through 

 the hearty and unselfish cooperation; of 

 its members. 



THE BTHLDING OF A BUSINESS. 



[A paper by August F. Poehlmann, of Morton 

 Grove, 111., read before the American Rose 

 Society, In convention at Boston, Mass., March 

 25 to AprU 1, 1011.] 



In compliance with a wish expressed 

 by our worthy president and vice-presi- 

 dent, I have prepared a paper on the 

 "Development of an Up-to-Date Rose- 

 Growing Establishment," which, I be- 

 lieve, will also apply to other interests. 

 I can't quite understand why I was 

 selected, but I have an idea the gentle- 

 men referred to know it's one of my 

 short suits. In deference, therefore, to 

 those present, I will confine myself to a 

 few brief remarks, touching the subject 

 in a general way. 



The development of any business de- 

 pends not only on one or two things, 

 but upon a happy combination of vari- 

 ous conditions, properly applied. These 

 conditions may be classified, I would 

 say, under the following terms: Abil- 

 ity, integrity, demand, and locality and 

 environments. 



Ability and Integrity. 



Classed separately, I would say, abil- 

 ity includes the faculty to accomplish, 

 to build, to grow good stock, to man- 

 age well, to anticipate and have power 

 to do. As a rule, most large, up-to-date 

 rose growing establishments of the pres- 

 ent day began business in a small way. 

 Spurred on by initial success, the earn- 

 ings were reinvested from time to time 

 to provide for the increasing demand 

 of the product. It becomes second na- 

 ture, then, to plan extensions and im- 

 provements, which in regular course 

 create new heads. Responsibility is 

 shifted. The work becomes more spe- 

 cific; each head is a specialist. This 

 system is general throughout; there- 

 fore, on the ability to do depends 

 largely the ability to supply demand. 

 Ability to discern the value of new 

 varieties, by previous knowledge of 

 parents or otherwise, and to anticipate 

 the demand for these, can properly be 



[Concluded on page 92.] 



