128 Ol)£ Slower (Brower 
I WAYSIDE RAMBLINGS [ 
WHAT IS A FAIR PRICE? 
Mr. Spencer’s discussion of fair prices 
for Gladioli in the October number of 
The Flower Grower is not conclusive 
on one important point. He thinks 
that difference in quality will account 
for the big difference in catalogue quo- 
tations. It might if the prices are 
quoted at random. But compare prices 
from lists issued by reliable growers, 
and the variation is very wide. 
The following are taken from price 
lists of well known and reliable 
growers : 
Loveliness, per hun., $8.00 to $15.00 ; 
Europa, $6.00 to $12.00; Princeps , $7.00 
to $15.00 ; Peace, $3.00 to $7.50 ; Pendle- 
ton, $4.00 to $8.00. 
The above is not a complete list by 
any means. 
If the wholesale price per 1000 is the 
basis for estimating retail prices, there 
must have been a big difference in the 
wholesale prices from which the prices 
above quoted were calculated. 
It isn’t wholly a question of quality. 
I have paid just as much for poor bulbs 
as I have for good ones ; and just as 
little for good ones as for poor ones. 
Neither is it altogether a question of 
size, for I have paid just as much for 
small bulbs as for large ones, the 
quality being the same. 
I believe, though I can’t prove it, that 
the wholesale price made by any 
grower is dependent on the quantity of 
stock on hand. It seems to me reason- 
able to suppose that a grower with 
200,000, or more, of one variety is likely 
to offer them at a lower price than one 
who has only 25,000, in the absence of 
any central market, or clearing house, 
where prices can be regulated. 
In Mr. Spencer’s discussion of the 
subject he doesn’t go back quite far 
enough. He says, “ as the wholesale 
lists are received select four.” Shall 
we select the four lowest or the four 
highest ? How do we know that the 
four we select offer the fair price, and 
that all others are too high or too low ? 
Even Mr. Spencer admits that “ it does 
not follow that all low-priced stock is 
poor and all high priced bulbs of extra 
quality.” 
Quality alone cannot account for the 
prices offered. Quantity — supply and 
demand — could. 
Except for this one point as to varia- 
tion of price it seems to me that Mr. 
Spencer in the current number, and 
“ P. M. T.” in the July number, are in 
substantial agreement. Both agree 
that “ it would be best to dispose of a 
large surplus to the wholesale trade,” 
and I believe they are both correct in 
saying that the small surplus might 
properly be reduced, or a variety en- 
tirely closed out, at cut-prices, where 
the amount of stock on hand is not 
large enough to make it attractive as 
a wholesale proposition. Whether this 
is to be done by a “cut-price,” a “special 
offer,” a “bargain collection,” or a 
“discount,” is a small matter— it isn’t 
a large enough transaction to upset 
the market. 
As to what is a proper wholesale 
price, that is another matter, and, in 
view of the wide variations in different 
lists, one that needs more light. 
Thomas M. Proctor. 
CRIMSON GLOW AND DOMINION GLADIOLI 
— COMMENTS ON OTHER VARIETIES. 
Is Mr. Betscher’s Crimson Glow the 
coming red, and is it better than Do- 
minion ? 
I asked this question of several grow- 
ers last spring and received a variety 
of answers, so there was only one 
thing to do, namely, plant a row of 
each and let the best flower win. 
Crimson Glow was the first to show 
the green and the first to bloom. The 
foliage grew erect and vigorous while 
Dominion showed a tendency to droop. 
Both varieties produced tall straight 
spikes and very large, wide open beau- 
tiful crimson blooms, four to six inches 
across, well placed on the spike and of 
good substance. 
Dominion is a very clear and beauti- 
ful crimson, a shade darker than Lie- 
besfeuer, without a blotch, mark or 
stain. 
The ground color of Crimson Glow is 
very nearly the same shade of crimson 
overlaid with a darker shade, and on 
the lower segments there is a blotch of 
velvety crimson. 
The opinion of visitors to the field 
and of those who saw them in the 
Boston show was almost unanimous in 
favor of Dominion. In the show room 
it will score two to five points higher 
but in the field Crimson Glow gets 
there with a robust constitution and a 
good crop of cormels. 
Mrs. Vellhuys is a handsome crimson 
suffused with a darker shade. In size 
and habit it closely resembles Rajah, 
but I do not consider it quite equal in 
color. 
I tried two new whites, White Giant 
and L’lmmaculee, both of Holland or- 
igin. Blooms of the latter are pure 
white, medium size, with narrow 
pointed segments, spikes long and sev- 
eral flowers open at once ; a good 
commercial variety. 
White Giant is the largest pure white 
I have ever seen, the segments, also 
narrow and pointed, measure five to 
six inches from tip to tip. The spikes 
were short and carried only a few 
blooms but I am hoping they will do 
better next year. It is unfortunate 
that its name is so similar to Kunderd’s 
Giant White. 
Yellow Hammer is a tall vigorous 
yellow resembling Niagara but flowers 
are not as large. A few late ones the 
first week in October showed up re- 
markably well. I think it is better 
than La Perle de Jardin, which is of a 
different type, slender spikes with clear 
yellow blooms of medium size. 
Wilbrink is a sport of Halley, no doubt 
about that, as I had flowers showing 
December, 1919 
one or more segments of the Halley 
color, and the general form and size 
are the same. The color, a pale pink, 
is not as attractive to me as the or- 
iginal. 
S. E. Spencer. 
SURGERY FOR DISEASED GLADIOLUS 
CORMS. 
Last winter, while cleaning Gladiolus 
corms, it occurred to the writer to try 
surgery as a means of saving those in 
which visible lesions showed evidence 
of inherent disease. Each bulb was 
looked over carefully as it was being 
cleaned and any that showed diseased 
spots or suspicious looking blemishes 
were treated ; first, by cutting away 
all the diseased part with a sharp knife, 
and then dipping the freshly cut sur- 
face into powdered sulphur. At plant- 
ing time I was pleased to note that but 
very few of my bulbs showed any sign 
of rot, and all through the growing 
season there was a much smaller per- 
centage of brown stalks than formerly, 
indicating less disease. 
In order to thoroughly test out my 
experiment, I selected at planting time 
last spring, one hundred corms of 
America that had been surgically 
treated as above ; some of them having 
had in the operation as much as one- 
fourth to one-half of the bulb cut away, 
and I feel sure that every one would 
have gone bad if they had not received 
attention. All through the growing 
season this block showed exceptional 
vigor ; later gave good bloom ; and 
when dug this fall I had one hundred 
and two of the finest large, healthy 
looking, plump bulbs I ever saw. Two 
only were diseased, and these badly so ; 
and four had divided. The bulblet 
growth was unusually strong in both 
size and quantity. Whether the dip- 
ping in sulphur augmented the bene- 
ficial results of the surgery, or not, I 
do not know, and it will take further 
experimenting to determine ; but as 
results proved, it certainly could have 
done no harm. 
H. G. Reading. 
MARKERS FOR GLADIOLI. 
I remember that some of our people 
have written about what they use for 
marking Gladioli in the field. I do not 
find anything which seems as good as 
the regular copper wired wooden tree 
labels. These are inches long and 
cost a $1.75 per thousand, painted on 
one side. I use the unpainted side the 
first year and sometimes, by marking 
out the first mark, use it the second 
year. Then I use the painted side once 
more at least and this makes as cheap 
a marker as the paper tags and much 
more durable. In attaching to the 
stem I divide the two wires and with 
both hands draw pretty tight and make 
two turns. When these mark-outs are 
not especially choice and are to be 
tumbled into a box together I give the 
wires an extra twist at the time of cut- 
ting off the stems to allow for shrink- 
age of the stem. 
Geo. S. Woodruff, 
