71 
July, 1919 
Slower (Brower 
[This department of The Flower Grower is intended to be one of its most helpful and 
valuable features. All questions asked in good faith and which are of general interest will 
have careful attention. The full name and address of the writer must be given, but not 
for publication.] — Editor. 
Tulip Troubles. 
To the Editor 
My Tulips came up in a fine healthy con- 
dition when suddenly I noticed that the 
leaves and stems were beginning to look 
dead and shriveled up. The trouble began 
with the May flowering and is affecting the 
Breeder and Darwins. The bulbs seem shriv- 
eled but the main trouble is the foliage. 
Have examined them under the magnifying 
glass and can see some tiny white worms on 
the stocks and there are white specks on the 
leaves. Have had wonderful success with 
tulips until this time so am at quite a loss to 
know what to do. V. E. 
Answer :— If your correspondent hap- 
pens to live in the region affected by 
the freezes of last April, I am inclined 
to think he will find that the injury 
complained of is due to the cold. I 
have had a very large number entirely 
killed, and many more variously in- 
jured in the manner described, but 
I do not think it is due to either in- 
sects or fungi. It will require fur- 
ther experiment to be sure. I may 
say in this connection that it seems 
possible to be too kind to Tulips. 
| “Treat ’em rough” seems to be a good 
motto to follow. All the injury to 
I my stock occurred in the specimens I 
mulched most carefully. The bulbs 
that were not covered at all came 
through without a single injury. 
Willard N. Clute. 
Controlling Chickweed. 
In a recent issue W. F. Massey states in “ Notes 
from a Maryland Garden,” that it is an easy matter 
for him to dispose of chickweed in his garden. As I 
am very greatly troubled with this weed, and have 
I tried for years to get rid of it, will you ask him if he 
would give the remedy ? J. N. 
Answer:— I did not mean that I have 
abolished the chickweed, for I have it as 
plentiful as ever in winter. I do not think 
that anyone can clean a garden from it 
entirely, for it blooms and seeds all winter. 
A farmer from up near the Delaware Water 
Gap came to my office a few days ago, 
and, noticing a thick mat of chickweed 
covering some of last year’s flower beds, re- 
marked that that weed was his chief an- 
noyance. I told him that I had long ago 
ceased to worry abont chickweed, for I find 
it an admirable winter mulch, protecting 
many things, and giving me some green 
growth to dig in in the spring. On the 14th of 
February I buried a thick growth of chickweed 
and sowed the first English peas. Now that 
is the last of that chickweed till another 
winter, for the cultivation of the garden is 
too rapid and clean to allow it to grow. 
Then as hot weather comes on it is very 
easy to kill any ■ hickweed that shows. 
When the chickweed appears on the lawn it is 
a very different matter. It gets in the grass 
generally from people using stable manure 
on the lawn. Better top-dress the lawn with 
raw bonemeal. But when the weed is there, 
make a saturated solution of iron sulphate, 
commonly called copperas. Sprinkle the 
weed with this liberally with a watering 
can. It will destroy chickweed and will not 
hurt the grass. That is the way I fight it 
on the lawn. In the garden I let it grow all 
winter, till I want its room in spring, and 
during the summer I fear no weeds in the 
garden, for I do not allow any to grow. — 
W. F. Massey in Rural New Yorker. 
Forcing Gladioli— 
Information Wanted. 
Will someone who has had the experince, 
kindly tell us the best varieties of Gladioli 
for forcing and should they be planted in 
boxes or in solid benches and what tempera- 
ture is required, and how many days from 
time of planting to blooming when put un- 
der forcing conditions? A correspondent 
wants this information and doubtless many 
of our readers would be interested along 
this line.(— Editor.) 
Replanting Gladioli. 
For how many years in succession may the same 
Gladiolus corms be successfully planted ? They are 
lifted and dried every autumn.— Grace Gardner, 
Hassocks. 
Answer : — Provided you take the precau- 
tion to plant in a fresh position or soil each 
year, you may grow the corms for an al- 
most definite period with impunity. Much 
hinges, naturally, on the way they are grown, 
and in this connection a deeply cultivated, 
well-enriched soil with perfect drainage is a 
matter of import. Winter trenching and 
manuring, a cool, well-aired store for the 
bulbs when dry, and early April planting 
when the soil is fairly dry are cultural items 
not to be lost sight of. As a fresh corm is 
produced annually above the old one, the 
cultivator is dealing virtually with a new 
plant each year, though it may not be en- 
dowed with the vigor of a seedling flowering 
for the first time. You might raise seedlings 
for yourself and note their increased vigor 
as against the others.- Gardening Illustrated. 
Bound Volumes as 
a Reference Library. 
The four bound volumes of The 
Modern Gladiolus Grower (1914 to 
1917 inclusive) contains more useful 
information regarding the Gladiolus, 
its culture, history and improvement 
than can be had from any other source. 
These four bound volumes also contain 
much useful information about other 
summer-flowering plants, but the Gladi- 
olus is especially well covered. These 
volumes contain the W. W. Wilmore, 
Jr., articles entitled, “The Gladiolus 
Manual.” All information is quickly 
available by means of an index in each 
volume, and those who are interested 
in studying the subject cannot afford 
to be without these bound volumes. 
There has been no advance in the 
price. We are still furnishing the four 
volumes postage prepaid for $5.00. 
Furnished separately at the same rate, 
$1.25 each. Those who are interested 
in studying the practical and scientic 
features in connection with growing 
Gladioli should surely have a complete 
file. 
11111111111111111111111 m mi mu minim i inn iiiiniMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiMiiiiinii in unlit; 
The Glad Philosopher’s 
Musings. 
inniinniniiinn inn miininnninimnii 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 ^ 
Every once in a while we hear some- 
one speak of “the miracle of nature.” 
There can be no such thing as a mir- 
acle of nature. Every act of nature is 
guided by an inexorable law. Some of 
these laws may not as yet be known or 
understood, but they are as existent as 
the earth itself. 
Speaking of miracles, the first case 
on record where the sun was made to 
stand still, was when Joshua, according 
to the Scriptures, caused that orb to 
remain overhead for a full day. But 
the sun has been made to stand still 
for an hour at a time on two later oc- 
casions, when by order of Congress 
and the President, the clocks of the 
nation were turned forward 60 minutes. 
If the daylight saving plan becomes 
a permanent fixture, the Marvel of 
Peru will have to change its popular 
name to the “ Five O’Clock.” 
Behold the gorgeous Oriental Poppy. 
Even Mrs. Solomon, in all her glory, 
was not arrayed like one of them. 
Someone has well said: “You will 
have a better garden if you use the 
hose less and the hoes more.” 
“Will there be any flowers in Heaven?” 
asks a well-meaning woman of senti- 
mental temperament. 
Dear sister, don’t worry about the 
flowers in Heaven. Brighten up that 
neglected corner of your terrestrial 
home grounds with a few corporeal 
Irises and Peonies, and trust the de- 
tails of the extramundane gardening to 
those who are on the job. 
Some time since, in searching for a 
suitable inscription to accompany the 
gift of a book on floriculture to a flower- 
loving friend, this quotation appealed 
so strongly that it was selected for the 
purpose : 
“ Were I in churchless solitudes remaining, 
Far from all voice of teachers and di- 
vines, 
My soul would find, in flowers of God’s 
ordaining, 
Priests, sermons, shrines !” 
— Horace Smith. 
The Glad Philosopher, 
