MARSHAL FOCH 



A new Gladiolus (not to be con- 

 fused with the earlier Holland- 

 bred Le Marechal Foch) which 

 bids fair to vie with the popular 

 America; it is described as "a 

 melting shade of pink, with a 

 hint of heliotrope" 



A HANDFUL OF TOP-NOTCH GLADIOLUS 



MONTAGUE CHAMBERLAIN 



Varieties that Hold the Lead — Present Day Trend from Large Size 

 Toward Delicacy of Form — Summarizing Last Season's Exhibitions 



GREAT show," said my friend one August day last year 

 as we were leaving the hall in Boston where the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society and the New England 

 Gladiolus Society had combined for an exhibition of 

 these beautiful blossoms. It was indeed a "great" show in two 

 ways — probably the largest in quantity, and the best in quality 

 that has ever been brought together the wide world over. That 

 much has been conceded by the men best able to judge wisely. 

 And for this supremacy in quality we must give credit to the 

 skill and the patient care of the American and Canadian pro- 

 ducers. 



There was a time, and not so very long ago, when the major 

 part of the finest varieties to be seen at a Gladiolus show were of 

 European production, and we still have to thank the growers 

 there for many a good thing. But the day of foreign leadership 

 has passed, and the prize winners of to-day are very largely of 

 our own producing. And their quality is of high rank — such 

 rank as fits them to stand up proudly among the queens of the 

 Gladiolus world. 



The exhibition of the American Gladiolus Society was held 

 last year at St. Thomas, Ontario, where the national organi- 

 zation combined with the St. Thomas Horticultural Society — 

 an exceedingly strong and enterprising body. Together these 



two companies of Gladiolus growers staged a display of more 

 than ordinary extent and of more than ordinary merit, though 

 it did not quite reach the high level of the Boston Show, either 

 in the numbers exhibited or in their quality. 



The reports of these exhibitions which were furnished by the 

 press — both by the newspapers and by the horticultural jour- 

 nals — were most disappointing. They gave names of the 

 distinguished people present, the names of the growers who won 

 prizes, and they told with scrupulous care the things said by the 

 numerous speech-makers — the speech-making at St. Thomas 

 was abundant and the words spoken were a delight to American 

 ears — but we learned from the reports almost nothing of the 

 varieties that won the prizes, the very thing for which the man 

 with a garden has the most interest. 



It is worth while endeavoring to make up that loss, and I will 

 begin by trying to answer the often repeated question: "Which 

 was the best variety exhibited?" The truism that the choice of 

 the most beautiful in any given bunch of flowers is purely a 

 matter of individual preference, again found illustration in the 

 differences of opinion as to the best Gladiolus in the St. Thomas 

 Show. One report says that the judges awarded the prize to 

 the E. J. Shalor, a tall plant bearing large blossoms of a deep 

 rose pink, while another report states that Purple Glory was the 



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