66 
~3Flo\V£r (Brower 
July, 1919 
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Slower (Brower 
! PUBLISHED MONTHLY ON THE FIRST OF THE MONTH BY | 
MADISON COOPER, CALCIUM, N.Y. 
FOR BOTH AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL FLOWER GROWERS 
| Subscription Price : OUR MOTTO: Canadian and Foreign | 
I $1.00 per year. Special favors to none, and a Subscription Price | 
| years for $2.00. square deal to all. $1.25 per year. | 
Growers are invited to contribute articles or notes over their own 
signatures, but the Editor reserves the right to reject anything which 
in his judgment is not conducive to the general welfare of the business. 
Copyright 1910 by Madison Cooper 
The contents of THE FLOWER GROWER, formerly " The Modern Gladiolus 
Grower” are covered by general copyright. Permission is given to editors to use not 
more than one-third of any article providing proper credit is given at the beginning or 
end of such quotation, as follows: “ From THE FLOWER GROWER, Calcium, N. Y." 
Special permission necessary for reprinting illustrations, tong extracts or articles entire. 
Vol. VI July, 1919 No. 7 
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“ He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a 
greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the 
repetition of ten thousand prayers.”— Zoroaster. 
Flower Show Suggestions. 
Our friend, Geo. Churcher, of England, has sent us a 
circular issued by the Midland Daffodil Society, Birming- 
ham. There are some interesting ideas contained in it, the 
most important of which is a requirement which reads as 
follows : 
Each exhibitor will be required to give the secretary, on the 
first day of the exhibition, a list of the prizes won, together with the 
names of the flowers exhibited, for publication in the report and for 
checking with the books. 
This seems to be putting the exhibitor under rather 
difficult conditions, because the exhibitor cannot be sure of 
prizes won without referring the matter to the secretary or 
chairman of the exhibition committee. However, the ex- 
hibitor can furnish the names of the flowers exhibited all 
right enough and he should do it, and this would be an ex- 
cellent idea in connection with any flower show, but this 
necessitates awaiting the finishing of the work of the judges, 
and also necessitates the presence of the exhibitor at the 
flower show when the work of the judges is finished. 
From our experience at flower shows in the U. S., the 
judges have no regular schedule of time for doing their 
work. They seldom start when advertised to start and 
they finish at their own convenience. The judges should 
be subjected to some rules as well as exhibitors, and ex- 
hibitors who do not have their flowers staged at the time 
advertised, should not be allowed in competition, and on the 
other hand, the judges should commence work exactly when 
advertised in the prize schedule and they should keep at 
work on the job until finished. If the judging were com- 
pleted at some definite time, then the exhibitors could be 
required to furnish the secretary with a list of winning 
varieties as indicated in the above requirement from the 
English circular referred to. 
There is opportunity for improvement in the handling 
of flower shows in this country and too much latitude is at 
present given both exhibitors and judges. By all means let 
us have more uniformity and let us have the names of win- 
ning varieties reported officially and not depend on casual 
reports. 
Madison Cooper. 
Join the American Gladiolus Society. 
Those who are greatly interested in the Gladiolus should 
join the American Gladiolus Society. The society needs 
the support of all lovers of the Gladiolus. Gladiolus lovers 
should not be too critical as to the personal benefits to be 
derived from membership in the society. It is surely worth 
the price of the yearly dues, $2.00, to be associated with a 
national organization with so worthy a purpose and the 
possibilities for good work of such an organization depends 
on the number of its members. The society is ten years 
old, and it has done much good work in spreading knowl- 
edge, testing varieties and conducting flower shows. H. E. 
Meader, Dover, N. H., has agreed to give all new members 
joining before the next annual meeting in August one dozen 
blooming size corms of the beautiful Kunderd variety, J 
Myrtle, and under the present arrangement with the society, I 
The Flower Grower is sent free to each member during j 
the life of his membership. The present is a very oppor- J 
tune time for joining. 
Mrs. Hammond’s Sunflower article on our front cover • 
page this month is worthy of careful perusal. The Sun- { 
flower, although extremely plebeian in its characteristics I 
and somewhat coarse as a flower, is worthy of a place in any fl 
garden. The editor grows Sunflowers with the least pos- . 
sible effort. They come up freely as “ volunteers ” each 
year as they are allowed to go to seed. Then it is only a 
question of pulling out the ones not wanted. They do ex- i 
ceedingly well in a moist situation. The unusual trait of 
keeping its face toward the sun from morning until after- 
noon, which the Sunflower possesses, makes it most interest- 
ing, and although the common Sunflower is rather coarse 
and heavy, yet if one wishes to specialize on the Sunflower 
there are a large number of fancy varieties which are quite 
attractive. 
In days gone by, and indeed at the present time, origi- 
nators and growers of new varieties of flowers sometimes 
send stock out for trial with the request or understanding 
that it be returned at the end of the growing season with 
its increase. We do not think that this is the customary 
way, and indeed we believe this plan is a little old fashioned, 
and that most stock sent for trial becomes the property of 
the party who does the trying. 
Speaking from a personal standpoint the editor has re- 
fused to accept for trial stock which he cannot add to his 
collection if pleased with it, or throw it away if not pleased 
with it. Is it fair to ask that stock sent for trial be returned 
to the originator? Is it reasonable to expect the man who 
does the trying to furnish his time and effort for the purpose 
of giving a report to the originator and then lose the stock 
at the end of the growing season ? We would be glad tc 
have an expression of ideas on this subject. 
The first three weeks of June, 1919, were certainly the 
greatest growing period that we have ever experienced ir 
northern New York. It seems as though nature were trying 
to make up for the cold and backward spring by giving u: 
extreme heat with enough moisture to balance it. Vegeta 
tion is probably as far advanced at this date, June 23rd, a; 
the average season. Weather conditions the country ovei 
seem to have been somewhat similar, and it is probabh 
that those who were able to get their plantings made or 
time have been satisfied with the progress which crops hav< 
made to date. 
