36 Slower (Brower 
WAYSIDE RAMBLINGS 
THE CIRCUS STYLE. 
Every one who has been observing 
has noticed the peculiar literary style 
of the circus poster. The dictionary 
and Roget’s Thesaurus have been ex- 
hausted in the effort to find adjectives. 
Such words as “ stupendous,” “ im- 
mense,” “ awe-inspiring,” “ unpar- 
alled,” “gigantic,” etc., etc., are piled 
up in the descriptions without limit. 
Something of this styld of language 
sometimes appears in advertisements 
of flowers. It is true that some flowers 
and plants are so beautiful that it is 
difficult, if not impossible, to aptly por- 
tray them but these things are matters 
of comparison and it sometimes hap- 
pens that the superlatives are applied 
to something which is little better, if 
at all, than other old favorites. So I 
think the wise ones are inclined to 
discount considerably advertisements 
from those who have a reputation for 
exaggerating descriptions. Let us be 
enthusiastic but try to discriminate. 
Geo. S. Woodruff. 
THE EXPERIENCE OF A REAL FLOWER- 
GROWER — AN APPEAL FOR MORE 
FLOWER GROWING BY WORKING 
PEOPLE. 
I have read your December number 
and I heartily agree with Mr. Andresen 
about having a “ Flower Garden 
Bogey.” The name though isn’t ex- 
actly pleasing to me. 1 confess I had 
to resort to the dictionary to find if it 
had any other meaning than the one 
nearly every child is familiar with. 
Like the majority of working people I 
know nothing of golf and the word 
“Bogey” brings that little shivery feel- 
ing I knew as a child. However, if I 
am to use the term at all, I prefer to 
be a flower bogey rather than have one. 
Nevertheless I have the “ Flower Gar- 
den Bogey.” Oh, yes, I have the feel- 
ing and all I need is money, money and 
more money. 
Last spring I wanted some of Mr. 
Kunderd’s lovely bulbs and like most 
women I “ simply had to have a hat.” 
Probably most men have heard that 
phrase before. At present prices I 
could not get much of a hat for the sum 
I had to invest and I could get a lot of 
nice fat bulbs. So I got a nice lot of Mr. 
Kunderd’s Gladiolus bulbs and made a 
hat myself ! I really did, and what is 
more, I made my winter hat, too, and 
got some Tulip bulbs. I am going to 
keep right on making my hats and I’m 
looking for “ more worlds to conquer,” 
and every penny I save goes towards a 
new bulb of some sort. 
Several of my neighbors laugh at my 
joke (?) “It will buy a new bulb,” when 
I tell of my adventures in thrift. They 
don’t suspect me yet (perish the 
thought) but some day I hope that lit- 
tle saying of mine will take root, and 
then— we will havesomemore “Flower 
Bogies!” 
Why is it that the average working 
people - that is, people who live com- 
fortably, dress well, and regard elec- 
tricity, bathrooms, hard wood floors, 
moving pictures and icecream as neces- 
sities— look upon flowers (other than a 
few annuals) as luxuries? Can’t you 
write a real stirring appeal to this class 
of people to grow flowers, those who 
rent as well as owners of houses? 
Make it a patriotic duty (“ beautify 
the old U. S. A.” or something of that 
sort, you know) or a religious duty or 
a duty they owe themselves or chil- 
dren, or any old reason to get the idea 
across. 
Mrs. S. B. Herd. 
Note by the Editor— 
Well, we are all “ working people," or should be if 
we are not, and the real flower-lover is willing to 
deprive himself to get the rare things he wants. The 
above example is worthy of emulation everywhere. 
A FLOWER AND NATURE LOVER’S TRIP 
TO LAKE GEORGE. 
The A. M. was cloudy and when we 
got off the boat at Pearl Point, which is 
half way up the Lake, it rained very 
hard, but we went ashore in spite of it 
and ate our lunch on the covered porch 
of a closed hotel 
Within half an hour it cleared up and 
then we proceeded up the mountain. 
It seems that a very wealthy man pur- 
chased Pearl Point, closed the hotel 
and built a wonderful home on it a few 
years ago, which burned to the ground 
last year. 
Leading up to it are rustic stairways, 
benches for lovers, and winding paths 
grown over with vines which finally 
lead to an Italian garden. Such a per- 
gola and such a vine growing over it, 
sounds like a story book, and what a 
view of the Lake. West from the per- 
gola is a path bordered with perennials 
which were just in their glory and we 
picked bunches of them. Philox of ev- 
ery color and description and a bush 
that I have decided is a Butterfly bush. 
A butterfly kept coming again and 
again to my bouquet which had sprays 
of it in the center and so I decided 
that was it. 
All things must come to an end and so 
did this delightful overgrown path, but 
it ended with a half circle of Hydran- 
geas which up in the mountain air were 
already changing from a delicate pink 
to a light russet shade. How luxuri- 
ant they were after the rain! I picked 
and picked and hope to keep them all 
winter. In front of them was a sun dial 
and a lily pond which, however, was 
past its best. How lovely to find such 
a spot away up on the mountain. 
Then we proceeded a little further 
on and came to the ruins of the home. 
What a view we had of the Lake then. 
Think of it, we had three whole hours 
to spend in that little haven. We took 
pictures too, and should they come out 
good, you shall see a girl with bunches 
of Phlox in her arms and a happy smile 
on her face. How I wish I might camp 
up there forever. 
There was a lookout house even fur- 
March, 1920 
ther up which we went to and a track 
with a cable leads up from the shore 
which was used to bring up sup- 
plies. Think what it must mean to live 
among the clouds and have a garden 
such as that must have been a year or 
so ago. 
The vine covered pergola won me 
with the sunbeams playing through it 
and I wondered what it must be in the 
moon-light. To most of those in our 
party it was a fine resting place with 
pretty flowers but that was all. 
THE BEST TWELVE GLADIOLI. 
You have printed in your columns 
from time to time individual lists of 
the best twelve or more varieties. 
These lists have contained varieties 
quite new to me, and no doubt to many 
other readers. All very interesting 
and useful to those who can afford to 
experiment with the newer varieties, 
whatever the price. But there are 
amateurs, who no doubt are just as 
keen on the Gladiolus, yet at the same 
time cannot afford to risk the expense 
in proving the value of the individually 
selected varieties. To help these keen 
amateurs, and others probably who 
may be deterred from starting planting 
Gladioli owing to the large number of 
varieties to choose from, would it be 
possible, with the assistance of the 
American Gladiolus Society, to obtain 
a ballot through your publication on 
the following, or similar lines: 
1. Garden Varieties (Large) — (a) Red ; 
(b) White; (c) Blue; (d) Yellow; (e) 
Any other color. 
2. Primulinus Hybrids — (a) Red; (b) 
White; (c) Yellow; (d) Orange; (e) 
Any other color. 
Each voter to place the names of not 
more than six varieties of each color 
in order of merit. If the idea could be 
carried out it would be very helpful. 
AVERAGE TIME FROM PLANTING TO 
BLOOMING OF GLADIOLI. 
I have been comparing my own rec- 
ords of blooming dates of Gladioli 
with those of H. L. Hutt (Ont.) pub- 
lished in The Flower Grower of 
September, 1919, and find that my 
dates average one to two weeks earlier 
than his. Whether the difference in 
latitude would account for some of the 
difference in time, or not, I will not at- 
tempt to say. 
I have kept these records of some 
varieties for four years, and of the rest 
for three years, and the list I am send- 
ing gives the average of all. There 
was very little variation from one year 
to another in the date of blooming for 
any given variety. 
It seems to me that data of this kind 
might be of help in planting where 
one wants to have blooms ready for a 
special occasion, as an exhibition, bear- 
ing in mind that no one set of figures 
can hold true for all sections of the 
country. But if your grower knows the 
time required by any one variety from 
planting to blooming, he can calculate 
somewhere near the time required by 
another variety. For example if Halley 
blooms in 74 days for Mr. Hutt, I would 
