March, 1920 
add 17 to his 74, and get 91 days as the 
average blooming time for America, 
because I find that, on the average, 
America takes 17 days longer than Hal- 
ley. The same plan works out well 
with other varieties on his list, so that 
I would expect that if he were to grow 
Prince of Wales, he would find that it 
would bloom in approximately 75 days. 
Following is the list : 
Variety 
Days 
America 
. 82 
Attraction ... 
. 82 
Augusta ....... 
7 7 
Baron Hulot 
i l 
Chicago White 
72 
Cracker jack 
83 
Dawn (Tracy) 
. 80 
Empress of India 
75 
Eugene Scribe 
_ 80 
Firebrand 
. 74 
George Paul 
76 
Glory 
83 
Glory of Holland 
83 
Haliev 
. 65 
Ida Van 
76 
Independence 
88 
Lavender Beauty . ... - 
.... 74 
Lily Lehmann .... 
73 
Loveliness _ 
82 
Marc Fennell . .. . 
.... 80 
70 
Minnesota ... 
. 75 
Mrs. Frank Pendleton ... 
75 
Myrtle 
71 
. 76 
Niagara 
. 81 
Panama 
84 
79 
Peacock ... ._ .. 
74 
Prince of Wales. . 
67 
Scarsdale 
77 
Schwaben 
. 80 
The King . 
78 
' Thomas M. Proctor, (Mass.) 
TIME FROM PLANTING TO BLOOMING OF 
GLADIOLI. 
The number of days from planting 
to blooming of Glads seems to be of 
interest— of course it depends, as you 
say in the January number, on several 
things, but mainly on the time of plant- 
ing. Records from last year’s plant- 
ings— planting date April 29: 
Variety Bloomed Days 
Myrtle ... July 15 77 
Jessie " 17 79 
Halley and Prince of Wales "19 81 
Willie Wigman “ 21 83 
Mary Pickford and Minnesota “ 23 85 
Cardisun and Scarlet Velvet " 24 86 
Empress of India. Bernice " 26 88 
Chicago White . " 26 88 
Blacks 114, Blackhawk, Herada “ 27 89 
Bluvista, Anna Eberius, Dominion " 27 89 
Mrs. Wm. Kent, Mrs. Francis King_ “ 29 91 
Niagara, Rose Wells " 29 91 
Bertrex and Mary Fennell ... “ 3i 93 
Pink Perfection Aug. 1 94 
Schwaben " 2 95 
K. Glory, Burrell and America “ 4 97 
Europa, Panama, Mrs. Dr. Norton “7 100 
Kirtland “7 100 
Princeps, White Cluster " 9 102 
Gretchen Zang “ 9 102 
Now to show the difference caused 
by late planting — Myrtle, planted April 
29, bloomed in 77 days; planted June 
6, bloomed in 63 days ; planted June 15, 
bloomed in 62 days. 
A. C. Carpenter. 
A RED BIRD IN WINTER. 
There has been a red bird at my 
place all winter, and this kind of a bird 
has never been seen here before. It is 
bright red all but its back, and that is 
brown-red and is a little smaller than 
a robin. It has a tuft of feathers on its 
head- a top-not. Down in the village 
of Mantorville two of them have been 
seen, and one of them is bright green. 
A few have delved into all the bird lore 
obtainable, and by the description they 
think them arctic birds. 
Willis E. Fryer. 
£31k Slower (Brower 
HOW TO ATTRACT THE SMALL GROWER 
AT THE FLOWER SHOWS. 
This is a difficulty which arises 
everywhere. Do Societies bear in mind 
the old saying : “ You must learn to 
walk before you can run.” Those who 
are responsible for the drawing up of 
schedules are more generally large 
than small growers. They are used to 
seeing a bold display in their gardens 
and naturally wish to see the same on 
the exhibition benches. 
Turn to the schedule of the Ameri- 
can Gladiolus Society, and glance down 
the classes headed “Non-Commercial 
Growers.” Can they be said to hold 
out any attractions for the small 
grower ? He is asked to put up from 
three to ten spikes of each variety. 
The National Gladiolus Society (Eng- 
land) has recently been wound up, and 
I have had the opportunity of reading 
some of their letters addressed to the 
Hon. Sec. on the subject. One letter 
contained the following : 
“ Anyway so long as the three spike rule 
held the Society was doomed. I maintained 
this from the first and still stick to it.” 
Desiring more information, the writer 
was communicated with, and the fol- 
lowing reply received. 
“ Re my remark about the ‘3 spike rule’ 
in the Gladiolus Society exhibitions. My con- 
tention was that it put too great a burden 
and expense on the small grower, amateur, 
or trade— but especially the former. A 
Gladiolus spike is an inflorescence, not a 
flower, and with such a capricious plant, in 
order to make reasonably sure of having on 
any fixed day one spike out (of exhibition 
quality) one would have to plant at least a 
dozen corms of each variety — say 4 at three 
different dates, so that in a class of 12 dis- 
tinct varieties 150 corms would be necessary 
and I should not venture on entering for 
such a class when 3 spikes of each variety 
are necessary with less than 50 corms of 
each variety, i. e. 600 corms ; far beyond the 
capacity of nine out of ten amateurs. And 
then consider the packing of 36 spikes and a 
few over in reserve! Gladiolus spikes are 
most tiresome and bulky things to pack * * * 
Any comparison with Daffodils and Narcis- 
si, etc., is unreasonable. They are flowers, 
i. e., single blooms and moreover do not give 
anything like the trouble or take anything 
like the space.” 
Look again at the classes set out on 
page 105 of your last volume (1919.) 
After the excessive number of spikes 
asked for, what strikes one is that par- 
ticular varieties must be staged. The 
object, of course, is to increase sales, 
but would not the end be better at- 
tained by giving the amateur a freer 
choice? Take classes 97 to 106. These 
include ten varieties with prizes to the 
value of $50. Four of the classes did 
not fill, and the others attracted only 
one exhibitor. So that only six varie- 
ties were staged and those from the 
same garden. Suppose the ten classes 
had been reduced to three and had 
read as follows : 
(a) Nine varieties, all of my intro- 
duction, one spike of each. First, $18; 
second, $9. 
(b) Six do., do. First, $10 ; second, 
$5. 
(c) Three do., do. First, $4 ; second, 
$2 ; Third, $1. 
Would the results have been different? 
37 
Perhaps. Why ? An amateur may be 
able to stage 3, 6 or 9 varieties of his 
own choosing, but 99% may find that 
the particular varieties asked for do 
not, or notin sufficient numbers, figure 
in their gardens. 'This may arise be- 
cause the schedule has appeared too late 
for him to make the necessary plant- 
ings. 
Why not take a leaf out of the Seeds- 
man’s book? He advertises the fact 
in his own catalogue that prizes will 
be offered at certain exhibitions. He 
stipulates with the promoters of the 
exhibitions that the schedule shall be 
published early enough to allow any 
intending exhibitor to purchase the 
necessary seeds before it is too late to 
sow them. In the schedule before me 
the wording of one firm reads : 
“Open to Messrs. W*** & Sons’ Customers. 
Messrs. E. W*** & Sons. 
('Full address is set out.) 
Offer the following Special Prizes: 
Class 91. 
For a collection of Vegetables 
(6 distinct kinds.) 
which must have been grown from 
seed supplied direct from their estab- 
lishment in the autumn of 1919 or 
spring of 1920.” 
Sweet Pea growers also offer prizes 
for 12, 9, 6 or 4 varieties but very few 
stipulate the exact varieties. I have 
seen one or two particular varieties 
mentioned to be included, but very 
rarely. 
The Seedsmen have learned their 
lesson. 
Geo. Churcher. 
WHY THE VARIATION IN PRICES? 
The discussion about the wholesale 
price of Gladiolus bulbs brings out one 
fact and that is that there is no “Trust” 
and, evidently no collusion or agree- 
ment on prices. There seems to be no 
way for the grower to find out what 
the relation between supply and de- 
mand is going to be. So the grower 
who fears the demand will be relatively 
small and the supply large gets “cold 
feet” and quotes low prices. It is, of 
course, to be understood that if any of 
us felt sure he could get a higher price 
he would ask it. So I think I may 
say that the cause of the difference in 
prices is due to a lack of information- 
coupled perhaps, with a difference of 
temperament. 
Geo. S. Woodruff. 
EARLY PLANTING. 
Last spring, on March 26th, the soil 
was in good condition for planting in 
this locality, — 40 miles south of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. Chicago While, Pink Pro- 
gression and Jessie planted on that date 
began blooming on July 1st. 
A second planting of these sorts, on 
April 22nd, was in flower on July 8th. 
There was a gain from early planting 
of only a week. Still, from the flower 
market point of view, this slight gain 
was well worth while, and, in a season 
with more favorable April weather, 
might have yielded still earlier bloom. 
Henry Madtes. 
