January, 1919 
£3I)£ Slower (Brower 
7 
IIIIIIIIIIIIHII 
MRS. AUSTIN’S TALKS 
[ Written expressly for The Flower Grower. | 
More Flowers. 
W ITH THE “Holi- 
days” barely over 
our thoughts are 
leaping toward the 
springtime and its gardens. 
We pore over the early cata- 
logues and impatiently 
await the arrival of the 
tardy ones. We look over 
the seeds saved from our 
last year war gardens and with them 
comes, perhaps, the recollection of 
some mistakes, but we will profit by 
them and increase our plantings for we 
realize that the need of food this year is 
greater than ever for there’s a hungry 
and destitute world across the sea that 
is looking to us for help, but our hearts 
are light, we stood the test last year 
and know that we can now meet the 
call that is coming to us. Our own 
soldier boys will soon all be with us 
again and we are anxious to provide 
for them an abundance of the best our 
country can produce, all of which again 
means greater gardens. 
In our eager efforts to furnish more 
food we must not forget the need of 
more flowers, for the boys crave all 
that they were deprived of in the hor- 
II I IHIH HIM I Mil III III II II 
storage room to become too 
warm and damp, causing 
the bulbs to sprout thus 
losing some of the vitality. 
Look them over and stir 
them up and spread more 
thinly if necessary. A little 
warmth will not harm 
them if there is a good cir- 
culation of air. Spreading 
thinly in trays stacked one 
above the other, with good 
air space between, will keep them in 
fine condition. After some experiments 
we decided on the kind of tray illus- 
trated as the lightest, most convenient 
and all around best tray for general 
use. These are made of light wood, § 
inch stuff, 48 inches long, 18 inches 
wide and 4 inches deep. Bottoms made 
of builders’ lath with a narrow strip 
across the bottom (on the outside) for 
support. A three cornered piece of 
wood 1 inch thick is tacked on each 
corner thus making air space when 
piled one above the other. 
With proper preparation Gladiolus 
bulbs are among the very easiest of 
bulbs or tuber to be kept through the 
winter in storage, and because of its 
ease of cultivation, growing and bloom- 
ing well in any good garden soil, it is 
one of the very best for amateurs. We 
will not have “ War Gardens ” this 
year. They are the gardens of the 
greatest victory the world has ever 
known. Well may we call them Vic- 
tory Gardens. Grow food but add 
flowers and more flowers and brighten 
up that home, and show your joy of 
Victory in your flowers. 
Mrs. A. H. Austin. 
The Austin Gladiolus trays as stacked in storage. 
rorof war. Mother’s cake and mother’s 
flowers stand 50-50 now. Last year 
food had to come before flowers, and 
few flowers were planted in the war 
gardens, because we had not learned 
the need. I think even we growers who 
for years have raised flowers in quan- 
tity and love them so dearly, had not 
realized their full value. But stern 
war has proven, even to those who 
seemed to care the least, that flowers are 
a necessity for there are instances with- 
out number that have proved it. Thou- 
sands of our convalescents will espe- 
cially need flowers so in addition to 
more food, we must raise more flowers 
in our gardens, and on early planning 
depends much of our success. 
The grower of Gladioli must look to 
his storage and see that the bulbs are 
keeping well, for that is the main thing 
in the Gladiolus business now. The 
weather of our fall and early winter 
has been so mild that one is quite likely 
to forget that it is very easy for the 
Some of the Newer Gladioli. 
[ W ritten expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
We are at the end of an unusually 
good growing season in this vicinity 
and this brings me to notice that 25 or 
30 miles sometimes makes a great 
difference in the weather and this 
seems to be independent of latitude or 
any other assignable cause. The hot 
weather of early August, which burned 
up Gladioli and some other things so 
badly about Des Moines, only scorched 
the open flowers here for a few days 
and was followed by plentiful rains 
and did not hurt the bulbs. 
I tried a few varieties which were 
new to me except for a few sample 
bulbs. I planted 500 or 600 Red Em- 
peror which I read is the same as La 
Cordaire (will some one tell me whether 
this is certainly true). The bulbs came 
from Holland and had been long on the 
way and had sprouted ; so had to be 
planted rather early. This made the 
flowers come early but I understand 
that it is naturally one of the early sorts. 
They were most magnificent and this 
seemed to me the finest red of all. I had 
no others to compare with it at the time, 
but I still think it the most regal of the 
reds. The spikes were tall and straight, 
with a good number of flowers open at 
once, large and well opened. 
Prince of Wales I had never had in 
any quantity though I had seen a few 
the previous year. The color is a lovely 
salmon, more orange in tint than Hal- 
ley and without the markings of the 
latter. It is certainly a beauty but I 
am not yet prepared to say that I think 
it will supersede Halley. I have a 
great and growing liking for Halley in 
spite of its slender stem. I will suspend 
judgment, remembering how Panama 
was going to supersede America— •a.nA 
hasn’t. Still it is certainly beautiful 
and quite distinct from any other. 
Another gorgeous variety is Goliath, 
something like a magnified Empress oj 
India but of a rich dark purple; very 
large flowers and many open at once. 
All these were early, much to my dis- 
gust because I wished to show them to 
my friends at the Iowa State Fair, 
which is held late in August. Only a 
few can go to the fields to see the 
flowers but the fairs give thousands 
the opportunity to see what there is 
and the display is a great surprise to 
multitudes. 
Titanic was splendid and still stands 
without a peer in its class of color, as 
far as I know. It is something like 
Mrs. G. W. Moulton in color but a flat 
open flower and without the dots and 
markings. 
I tried only a few of Diener’s seed- 
lings and planted them late but two of 
them were very fine. Thos. T. Kent is 
an immense spike of large, light col- 
ored flowers with something like six- 
teen open at once. Anna Eberius is 
unique; a tall, straight spike of what 
he calls “Nell Rose” whatever that is 
— but in the purplish class and very 
rich. I think very highly of it. As 
for Thomas; he made a sensation at 
the Cedar Valley Fair which was held 
late in September. I fancy that these 
giant varieties require rich soil and 
good feeding— or watering. Some of 
his seedlings, without names, planted 
in my home garden, were very fine, 
mostly in light colors and some with 
quite a tendency to ruffling. 
I wish to speak in praise of White 
Excelsior. It is not new, having been 
sold, I believe, under several names, 
such as Reine {Rene?) de l’ Anjou, 
Reine Blanche, etc., but I find it an ex- 
cellent late white, habit of Augusta but 
a clean white of good substance. Per- 
haps if it were earlier it would attain 
greater popularity. I should like to 
know what others think of it. 
Pink Perfection was glorious this 
year and had unusually good stems, 
especially the late ones from young 
bulbs. Liebesfeuer and War lived up to 
their reputations and Mrs. Watt did 
well but I wish it had a little longer 
head. Is it common for War to occa- 
sionally sport a white patch on a petal 
or two ? Some of mine did. 
Geo. S. Woodruff. 
We understand that there are likely 
to be shipments of Holland grown 
Gladiolus corms coming through be- 
tween now and planting time, but just 
how large these shipments are likely to 
be we are not informed. 
