December, 1919 
WILBRINCK AND HALLEY GLADIOLI. 
I notice on page 100 of the October 
issue of The Flower Grower, that 
Mr. Fred C. Hornberger has had a 
bloom of Wilbrinck sport back to its 
parent Halley , and he wishes to know if 
others have had a like experience. 
Last spring I purchased 100 § inch 
bulbs of Wilbrinck and nearly all 
bloomed. About 25% were as perfect 
Halley as I ever saw, and these may 
have been really true Halley and be- 
come mixed in the lot by mistake, but 
about 15% of the other blooms were 
“ half-and-half that is, the petals 
were partly the Wilbrinck and partly 
the Halley color. This leads me to 
think that some at least of the Halleys 
were really Wilbrincks which reverted 
back wholly to the Halley color. 
I have given this variety up in dis- 
gust. 
Howard M. Gillet. 
The Propagation and 
Growing of the Rose. 
( Continued, from page 127.) 
blooming Roses of the Wichuraiana and 
Rambler types. The work he is doing is 
most interesting. Out of the six or seven 
thousand seedlings he is working with there 
will surely be forthcoming some remarkable 
types of new Roses. Some of his seedling 
Roses were the delight of the officers and 
members of the American Rose Society on 
the occasion of a recent visit. 
PROPAGATION OF ROSES. 
Nearly all the climbing types of Roses can 
be propagated from ripened wood made into 
long cuttings and planted in the open during 
early spring. 
The placing of ground peat or dried muck 
at the bottom of the trench where the cut- 
tings are inserted is a practice followed in 
Europe with good results, a sandy loam be- 
ing preferable to heavier soil. 
Greenhouse growing of wood for propaga- 
ting purposes is the one method employed 
extensively by firms in the Middle West; in 
order to get the wood intended for propaga- 
tion in suitable condition a close temperature 
with a humid atmosphere is sought ; wood 
thus grown is placed in shaded frames with 
a muslin cover some 3 ft. or 4 fr. above the 
glass ; about 12 in. of fresh horse manure is 
used as a base and on this is placed 4 inches 
of sand. The frame is kept close, the sashes 
not being raised for some eight or ten days. 
Cuttings thus treated, grown from wood pre- 
pared in the foregoing manner, root in about 
three weeks. 
Winter grafting of Roses is practiced by 
the Rose growers on a large scale, where 
Winter forcing varieties are demanded. 
Manettis being used for this purpose. The 
stocks are potted in 2 y 2 in. pots and when 
root action takes place they are splice- 
grafted with scions from green or growing 
wood, and placed in frames with bottom 
heat, the temperature ranging from 70° to 
75° in closed cases, which are covered with 
sash or glass. A close, moist atmosphere is 
absolutely essential in order to have them 
unite; of supreme importance is the intro- 
duction of air so as to keep the roots from 
blackening. Of course, this method is only 
practical where glass houses are available. 
Root grafting on small pieces of roots is a 
method employed by the nurserymen at 
Orleans, France ; they use hard wood and 
place the grafts under glasses, shading them 
with a light wash on the side of bell next to 
the glass. The grafts are planted some 12 
£3t)e Slower (Brower 
to 20 under each bell ; then carefully trans- 
planted when united and in growth. 
Stocks for budding purposes are better 
known by your membership than by myself; 
their preparation and culture, I take it, is 
similar to the handling of fruit stocks. 
A word as to the kind of stock. Manetti 
has had the lead in this country with only a 
moderate quantity of canina being used ; 
while in Europe canina is extensively used, 
almost to the exclusion of other kinds of 
stock for budding. 
The Rosa multiflora of Japan seems to 
have vitality, is a good producer of roots and 
is, I think, justly esteemed as one of the 
most practical and satisfactory stocks on 
which to bud Roses. A recent visit to two 
places where this stock is being extensively 
used would seem to put it in first rank as a 
stock on which to work Roses. The old 
Gloire des Rosamenes is being used quite ex- 
tensively in California with gratifying re- 
sults; in fact, I have never seen a more 
beautiful growth than Howard & Smith had 
in their Rose fields where this stock was 
used. Own root Roses vs. budded is a con- 
troversial field and while I have my own 
opinion as to their relative merits, I am in- 
clined to think that for most localities the 
Hybrid Teas and Teas thrive best budded. 
In the South and in favored localities per- 
haps own-root Roses are preferable. 
Pruning Rambler Roses 
with Hedging Shears. 
If there is one thing which I loathe more 
than any other in the work of a garden, it 
is the cutting out and tying up of Rambler 
Roses. It is a job which I usually attempt 
to push on to my wife. She attempts to put 
it on to me. She will say, “It is a fine 
afternoon ; those Rambler Roses ought to be 
tied up. They are falling all over the place.” 
I usually shelve the matter by informing her 
that I have some important digging which 
must be put in hand. The end of the mat- 
ter generally results in my having to do it. 
Then I get into a bad temper. All the thorny 
growths have to be laid clear of the sup- 
ports, the old wood cut away, and the new 
tied in place. When cutting away the old 
wood I invariably cut some piece which 
has sent out at the top a beautiful new 
rod. Too late I see this piece and hasten 
to secrete it, for I know that my wife will 
point out the quantity of bloom which I 
have lopped off. Now, all this vexatious and 
annoying work is done away with. I light 
my pipe, go into the tool-shed, procure the 
hedging shears, and proceed to lop back 
those Roses just as I would a hedge. It 
does not matter whether the growth is new 
or old ; off it comes. In a very short time 
I have the bottom of the ladder strewn with 
a tangled mass of what would have been 
blooming wood. As a rosarian my soul 
would have shrieked aloud at such desecra- 
tion at one time; now I simply cart the 
debris to the bonfire without turning a hair. 
Why ? Simply because I have found that 
all this tedious cutting out and tying up is 
not necessary. Blooms are produced in 
abundance on the Roses cut back in this 
way. It is true that after the operation the 
Roses look as if they would never bloom 
again. I learned this “tip” by accident. 
Near my house there was a particularly fine 
specimen of a weeping Dorothy Perkins. In 
its season it was simply weighed down with 
blooms. The following spring I chanced to 
look at that Rose, and found that its owner 
had cut the head back to about a foot of 
wood— new and old wood was all treated 
alike. I watched that Rose with interest 
during the time when it should bloom. 
There, sure enough, it was, a pink billowy 
mass. From that day I have adopted the 
same tactics, and always get an abundance 
of bloom.— Clarence Ponting in The Gar- 
den. (English) 
129 
Fifty Years Acquaint- 
ance with the Gladiolus. 
[ Written expressly for The Flower (Grower. ] 
BY HENRY C. ECKERT. 
( Concluded . ) 
In my previous article, I stated that 
out of the many new varieties I have 
grown on my farm, only four seem to 
me to have a future in the cut flower 
trade, but did not mention their names 
as I do not care to give free advertising, 
and furthermore I might be mistaken 
of their worth, having found out by 
experience from older introductions 
that some varieties do well several 
years, then go backward, losing vigor 
and deteriorate, and are useless to 
grow for cut flowers in a few years. 
I used to think a trial of a few bulbs 
would give a fair conception of their 
good qualities but have found out that 
the behavior of single plants are not 
always a sure criterion of their value 
if planted on a large scale, and will 
give an example : 
Three years ago I planted one large 
bulb, Queen Wilhelmina, received from 
an eastern grower. It was planted in 
rich soil, the plant made a remarkably 
good growth, produced a long spike of 
wonderfully nice large flowers; color 
a beautiful apple blossom pink with 
creamy white centre. Judging from 
this single specimen, I thought it would 
be a fine variety for the cut flower 
trade, and increased my stock next 
season by buying small bulbs which 
did not bloom in the dry year 1918. Be- 
sides these I bought several hundred 
large bulbs. They came out well, pro- 
ducing strong spikes, but they were 
short and stocky, no good for the 
wholesale trade. A good many other 
varieties I had on my trial grounds 
promised well the first season, but 
after growing them several years they 
show their weak points, and that they 
cannot compete with the older com- 
mercial kinds. 
After fifty years acquaintance with 
the Gladiolus I have learned a great 
deal in growing them, but have also 
gained the knowledge that there are 
a good many things that I do not know 
of this beautiful flower. As an ex- 
ample, why is it that some varieties do 
well the first year, and will be a com- 
plete failure the following season, then 
pick up again after several seasons, 
and then from poor scrubby bulbs, 
come out again in their first glory ? 
About this curious behavior I will have 
more to say in the future. In conclu- 
sion will say that the Gladiolus has 
wonderfully improved since the advent 
of the old Gandavensis, and that the 
American growers have taken the lead 
in originating and introducing the most 
beautiful varieties in the world. 
Don’t forget that Gladiolus corms 
and other flower stocks offered in col- 
lections often are the cheapest and best 
way to secure some of the very best 
and rarest varieties. Indeed some of 
the finest new varieties are only put 
out by the originators in collections 
and are not obtainable in any other 
way. 
