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NOTES FROM MY GLADI- 
OLUS GARDEN OF 1919. 
More than a hundred new varieties in the 
spring of 1919 presaged a busy and interest- 
ing season, and so it was. Disappointment 
came with some kinds, and enthusiasm with 
others. These notes are inspired by the 
article by Mr. Gersdorf in The Flower 
Grower for Nov., 1919, and are written in 
the hope that others will contribute in the 
same vein, and we may then, perhaps, learn 
why stock from a certain locality will do 
well in Ontario, for instance, while other 
stocks do poorly. If we do not attain such a 
desirable end, we may at least help each 
other to buy stocks that are likely to be suc- 
cessful. 
All the whites were of rather unsatisfac- 
tory growth. Paine’s Canada, identical with 
White Lady, gave the best results, but only a 
small proportion of the bulbs bloomed. The 
spikes were better than Enropa, and the 
greenish stamens tend to give the flower a 
whiter appearance. 
Kunderd’s varieties were most satisfac- 
tory. Some of them are fairly high in price, 
but most are worth what they cost, and al- 
most all are good flowers. I liked A Itom and 
Pride of Lancaster, very much, quite similar 
to each other. Challenger was my best red ; 
a fine glowing color of good size and reliable 
doer. Fairfield was a light maroon red, 
fairly good and early, August 1st. Purple 
Glory, very dark maroon red, ruffled, tall, 
and a fine spike. I have a soft place in my 
heart for a variety that grows five feet high. 
Salmon Beauty, good, tall, salmon pink with 
yellow in throat. Sirius was better still, and 
of the same type. Snow Glory, an interest- 
ing white, with bluish and creamy greenish 
shadings. Avalon, a good ruffled pink, throw- 
ing a nice spike of ruffled flowers. 
From miscellaneous sources I had results 
as follows : 
Prim. Beauty, (Christy). This was the 
best addition of the season. A good 4 inch 
yellow, with tiny markings of light reddish 
brown, well open, a good multiplier, 4 ft. 11 
inches high. If one had a hundred spikes 
of this, he would say, “ Give me 200 more.” 
Prince of Wales. Every one likes this va- 
riety. With me it was too early, and the 
weather was unfavorable, but the color is 
undeniably beautiful and it will be a prime 
favorite. 
Niagara. In hot weather was nearly all 
pink, and much inferior to the beautiful buff 
flowers that came when the heat moderated. 
Baronne d’lvoley, (Vilmorin). A fine white 
spike, flushed with shell pink, the first spike, 
in hot weather, was so poor that I was for 
discarding it, but in a cooler time it was 
very beautiful though not large. I shall 
try it with late planting next season. 
Flora. A fine light yellow, Aug. 9th, 103 
days. 
Mrs. Velthuys. As good a color as Chal- 
lenger, but smaller. Glows in sunshine. 
Aug. 8th, 120 days. 
Rouge Torch. A bad name. Two lan- 
guages should never be used in two words to 
make a single name. A very fit subject for 
a committee on nomenclature. Not very 
large, but a crystal white, with a blotch 
whose color pleases me greatly. 
Titanic. Worth having for its size, but 
the color is dull. 
Now for some disappointments. 
Badenia. Refused to flower. Said to be 
a usual fault. Moreover, I harvested only 
two bulbs from three planted. 
Fire Ribbon. Too small to be worth while. 
Golden West. Identical with Lemoine’s 
Pacha of old catalogues. Discarded years ago. 
Goliath. A rich color, but too poor a 
spike. 
Majestic. Poor spike and a small flower. 
W. E. Saunders, (Ontario.) 
Note by the Editor— 
True Golden West is not identical with 
Pacha by any means. See article on page 
44 of the May 1919 issue. 
TIME FROM PLANTING TO 
BLOOMING OF GLADIOLI. 
Perhaps the following list would be of 
some interest to parties planting Gladioli in 
our section (New Jersey) or in fact all sec- 
tions in the time between planting and 
blooming when planting extremely early : 
Halley ... 
Planted Bloomed 
Days 
March 8 June 21. 
“ 25.. “ 22. 
...105 
... 89 
“ 
.. . April 18. .July 3. 
... 76 
Pink Beauty .... 
July 10 .Sept. 5 
... 67 
. . . March 8. June 15. 
... 99 
Apr. 8. .June 21. 
... 74 
Mrs. Francis King 
... Apr. 30. .July 5. 
... 66 
March 8 July 4 
...118 
“ 21 . “ 5 
...106 
. Apr. 8.. “ 9 
... 92 
Apr. 19. _ “ 16. 
... 88 

Apr. 21 _. “ 17 
... 87 
A ugusta 
March 21 “ 9 
.. . 110 
May 14 ._Aur. 1 
... 79 
America 
March 25 __Ju1y 14 
..111 
Apr. 19__July 24. 
... 96 
Willie Wigman 
Apr. 30 ..Aug. 3. 
... 95 
March 27 .July 8 
...103 
.. Apr. 29.. July 20 
... 82 
These were planted in quantities, and the 
time elapsed was from planting until two or 
three dozen blooms could be picked for 
market. Some few blooms came four or five 
days earlier. 
You will notice that the extreme early 
planting was a failure in getting any earlier 
blooms. Some of the early plantings had 
the blades frozen when about three inches 
high but they continued to push up from the 
center and produced a good crop of flowers, 
This season we hope the weather will per- 
mit us to begin planting March 20. We 
shall, however, take a chance and plant sev- 
eral thousand mixed bulbs somewhat earlier, 
for it’s the early blooms that bring the price 
and make the money. 
Our first consignment to New York City 
sold for 6c. each (a few bringing 10c.) which is 
considerable better than l|c. in August. 
H. M. Barrett & Son. 
AUSTRALIAN LETTER. 
Extract from letter, written by the head of the 
Botanical Gardens, Australia, under date of Novem- 
ber, 1919, to Chas. F. Barber, Oregon. 
“As to the Acacias, perhaps you killed 
them with kindness. If planted in rich soil 
and kept well watered during summer they 
will grow very luxuriantly and make beauti- 
ful foliage, but they soon succumb to the 
frosts. So I find the only way to keep them 
is to plant on poor, dry soil, and only allow 
them sufficient water to keep them alive in 
dry weather, and by this means they make 
a hardy growth which stands the frost. The 
same treatment applies to all our Australian 
plants. 
“The Lilies you sent me are all doing well 
this season. Henryi will bloom ; Speciosum 
has divided itself into several small bulbs 
which ought to bloom next season. Wash- 
ingtonianum is coming up nicely and ought 
to bloom this season. Six of the seven 
Gladioli you sent will flower this season. I 
am going in more for Glads and am planting 
a bed of them with Asters in alternate rows 
for an autumn display. Here we plant Glads 
April, 1920 
in November and December, so as to have 
them bloom in March, after the hottest 
weather is over. If they are allowed to 
bloom in summer the flowers do not last 
long. I also have some nice seedlings but 
not like those you describe, as I haven’t the 
fine varieties for seed parents that you have. 
In your country you are much farther ad- 
vanced in the culture of this flower than we 
are. But in Dahlias I think we are ahead of 
you, judging by the varieties listed in the 
catalogues. We can also hold our own with 
you in Roses. There are a few fine varieties 
raised in Australia though most of ours are 
imported from Britain. In the gardens here 
I have about 200 kinds and they are, at the 
time of writing, just coming into bloom. Of 
course, I have heard that Portland, Oregon, 
is a great place for Roses, but you haven’t 
seen Australian Roses in full bloom. 
“You are very fortunate, or perhaps I 
ought to say skillful, in raising Mecanopsis 
and getting it to bloom. Have you tried the 
blue-flowered kind from Thibet ? The only 
kind I have is M. Cambrica, the Welsh 
Poppy, and it does not seem altogether at 
home here. I don’t know if I sent you seed 
of Diascia Barbarea before but I will enclose 
a pinch herewith. I like this little plant for 
its long season of blooming and quaint 
bloom. It can be grown as an annual but 
is a hardy perennial here.” 
WHAT KIND OF CATALOGUE? 
What does the average buyer of flowers 
look for in a catalogue? Is he especially 
attracted by color-prints and half-tones with 
which so many of the lists are filled — which 
are, of course, put in for his delectation— or 
is he satisfied with an unadorned statement 
of the facts ; color, habit of growth, etc., 
which go to make up a good description ? 
There is no denying the artistic value of 
some of the illustrations, and especially of 
some of the cover-printing. But these em- 
bellishments are expensive, and someone 
must pay. It may have occurred to the 
average buyer that he is the one who pays, 
as of course he is. The grower and the 
dealer are not philanthropists. Color prints 
and half-tones are a part of the “overhead,” 
aud must be charged up in the price of the 
stock. 
There is also no denying that a good illus- 
tration is of value as a part of the descrip- 
tion of a new variety, when there is some- 
thing distinctive in the form or arrangement 
of the flower or plant. But where is the 
utility of filling a price list with illustrations 
of America, and Augusta, and other well- 
known Gladioli ; and who can identify with 
any certainty, from the illustrations, Mrs. 
Pendleton, Lafayette, Jean Dieulafoy, or 
Autumn Queen ? 
A few half-tones are an excellent form 
of padding. I have before me two price 
lists of approximately the same size page. 
The descriptions in the larger one fill five 
pages, and yet there are only 38 varieties 
listed — about two-thirds of each page being 
covered by a half-tone of some well known 
Gladiolus. The smaller one, on two pages, 
has 45 descriptions— and no illustrations. 
Which will please the average buyer ? 
Inquisitive. 
FORSYTHIA BLOOMING IN OCTOBER. 
Two weeks after transplanting some 
shrubs from a nursery to a customer’s gar- 
den, in October of last year, it was a surpris- 
ing sight to me to see one of these shrubs, a 
Forsythia, burst into bloom as if it were 
spring instead of fall. Can any one explain 
this unusual phenomenon ? 
Katherine W. Reid, 
(New York.) 
