May, 1919 
t3b<£ Slower (Brower 
49 
One quality of the Iris that is not 
generally appreciated or known is its 
fragrance. Like the Peony, some are 
more fragrant than others and in some 
the fragrance is more pleasing than in 
others. Jeanne de Arc, besides being a 
beautiful flower has a wonderful fra- 
grance. It is equal to some of our 
most fragrant Lilies. When I first saw 
it at the Horticultural Show last June, 
I went back to it again and again 
merely to smell of it, and wasn’t satis- 
fied until I had bought a root. 
The Iris is very inexpensive, but you 
should not hesitate to buy some of the 
more expensive varieties and I will tell 
you why. If you have something real 
good you will have many visitors to 
your garden. They will want some of 
those good varieties and if they know 
they can pay you for them they will 
feel free to ask for a root. The plants 
increase very rapidly and will be all 
the better for being divided every three 
or four years anyway. Thus your ex- 
pensive varieties will cost you little or 
nothing. 
Gardening is looked upon as rather a 
mild stimulant, but if you want to ex- 
perience something really exciting, be- 
gin raising seedlings. One of the 
easiest flowers to raise from seed is the 
Iris. One spring I found a whole col- 
ony of little Siberians growing around 
the mother plant. They were all a 
deep purple like the parent so I gave 
them all away. I planted seed of the 
German Iris in August as soon as they 
were ripe and was rewarded the follow- 
ing spring by a bunch of very sturdy 
little plants. 
The way they grew was a wonder 
and I expect them to bloom this spring. 
I also have a bunch of Japanese seed- 
lings, but am not so hopeful about them. 
I have raised a good many Gladioli 
from seed and know something of the 
joys of anticipation, and also of some 
realization when some seedling turns 
out to be extra good. Of course the 
percentage of real good ones is small 
but there is always the chance of get- 
ting something very good, and it adds 
a zest to gardening that nothing else 
can.” 
W. F. Christman, Sec’y. 
Join the American 
Gladiolus Society. 
Secretary Beal writes that all mem- 
bers joining the American Gladiolus 
Society will be entitled to a full year’s 
membership, which means beginning 
with the annual meeting in August and 
extending to the next annual meeting 
in August 1920. Also please note that 
members of the American Gladiolus 
Society are entitled to receive The 
Flower Grower without extra charge 
during the period of their membership. 
Don’t forget also that new members 
are entitled to the one dozen corms of 
the beautiful variety Myrtle. 
All lovers of the Gladiolus, whether 
they are growing commercially or as 
enthusiastic amateurs, should be mem- 
bers of the American Gladiolus Society. 
The society has done and will do avast 
amount of good work. 
Fifty Years Acquaint- 
ance with the Gladiolus. 
I IVritten expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
BY HENRY C. ECKERT. 
Over fifty years have passed away 
since I saw the first Gladiolus. In the 
year 1867 my father, who was an en- 
thusiastic lover of flowers, and had one 
of the most beautiful gardens in this 
county, planted the first Gladioli in his 
garden on Drumhill Farm, five corms 
in five varieties. I remember two of 
them, one was the original hybrid Gan- 
davensis, the other one was Napoleon 
III, a crimson red with white throat, 
and was regarded in those times, as 
one of the best sent out by the French 
hybridizers. Two years later he sent 
an order for six more kinds to that 
old reliable seed firm, B. K. Bliss & 
Sons, New York. Of that lot I remem- 
ber only one, Lord Byron, which was 
an improvement on Napoleon III] color 
was a brilliant scarlet red with large 
pure white blotches in throat. Indeed, 
I think it was equal to Princepine, in- 
troduced several years ago. 
My mother being in poor health, we 
moved in the year 1875 into the town 
of Belleville, and next season we im- 
ported about twenty varieties from 
Ernst Benarz, Erfurt, Germany. In 
this lot were three which I think were 
nearly equal to some of the best in- 
troductions of recent years. They were 
Shakespeare, a very good light colored 
one, which is still in the trade, being a 
first class kind for the florist trade; 
Meyerbeer, a large red which did not 
increase, and Enrydice, one of the best 
light colored Gladioli ever introduced. 
It had large, open flowers of the lily 
type, and the coloring in a favorable 
season, was enchanting beyond descrip- 
tion. In that importation was also a 
white one, Angele, but it was not pure 
white, and the flower was small. 
Having married, I bought a farm 
several miles from town, and took 
possession in the fall of 1879. I had 
then about one hundred corms, among 
them being some of the best varieties 
introduced up to that time, put them 
in the cellar of my new home, and lost 
them all as the cellar was not frost- 
proof. Up to that time nearly all 
Gladioli in the trade belonged to the 
Gandavensis class; they were slow to 
increase and I do not remember that 
they produced any bulblets. Being 
very busy on the farm I did not invest 
much in Gladioli the next five years, 
buying only a few varieties every year, 
among them were Antique, Carnation 
and Bicolor, but they were no improve- 
ment on varieties introduced in preced- 
ing years. 
[ To be Continued. ] 
The Popularity of 
Outdoor Gardening. 
It was quite natural that the great interest 
in gardening awakened throughout the 
country among amateurs, and which led to 
the organization of the numerous garden 
clubs should find expression mostly in the 
outdoor garden. The call of the garden is 
loudest in the spring when nature reclothes 
the earth with verdure and when we look 
eagerly for the first blossoms in the open 
air. Naturally we want to 
be out in the fresh air of 
the garden at this season 
and it is here that our in- 
terest in the hardy plants, 
shrubs, vines and trees be- 
gins or gains new inspira- 
tion. And after all is not 
the outdoor garden by far 
the largest, most profitable, 
the most interesting field 
of garden work and also 
the most enduring in the 
perennial satisfaction which 
it affords? The Snow drops, 
Crocuses, the many charm- 
ing forms of the Daffodils, 
the Hepaticas, the orchid- 
like Irises extending in 
their varied types to well 
beyond midsummer and 
while these are still bloom- 
ing the early Lilies come 
and their many succeeding 
later varieties continue 
their flowering period into 
the late autumn ; these ac- 
companied in their seasons 
by the Peonies, Larkspurs, Hollyhocks, 
Phloxes, Japanese Anemones and hundreds 
of other hardy perennials constitute a pano- 
rama of beauty and interest that no green- 
house collection can rival. It is unfortunate 
that many of the new varieties and recent 
introductions are not more generally seen in 
such gardens, as they afford an almost inex- 
haustible supply of material yet but little 
known. This is also true of hardy shrubs, 
vines and trees of which the Arnold Arbore- 
tum, alone, in the last six or seven years has 
introduced about fifteen hundred species and 
varieties new to cultivation. With so vast 
a supply of material which must sooner 
or later become known, and find place in 
our gardens we cannot but feel that the out- 
door garden is likely to become and con- 
tinue the major field in horticulture — Hoiti- 
culture. 
H. E. Meader reports that Gladiolus 
growers are responding well to his offer 
of bulbs of the beautitul variety Myrtle 
in connection with each new member- 
ship in the American Gladiolus Society. 
It is a favorable opportunity to get 
started with this variety and Gladiolus 
enthusiasts should be members of the 
American Gladiolus Society anyway. 
View on the Gladiolus grounds of A. B. deGroat, Bath. N. Y. Mr. 
deGroat and his young son are pretty well loaded with well grown 
spikes of Gladioli. The foliage indicates an extraordinarily strong and 
healthy growth. 
