April, 1920 
THE AMARYLLIS. 
One of the southern Amaryllis growers 
advises growing the Amaryllis as you do the 
Gladiolus, but my greatest pleasure is de- 
rived from growing them to brighten my 
living room in winter. Five plants bearing 
buds in various stages of development now 
adorn my living room. One bloom, just 
opening, is pure white veined scarlet. Two 
other favorites are a white veined crimson 
and a pure, fiery red. The southern grown 
green bulbs are much easier to handle than 
the dry bulbs, by one without the facilities 
of a greenhouse. 
After blooming keep them growing vigor- 
ously through the summer, setting the pots 
out doors in a sunny location. See that they 
have plenty of water and an occasional dose 
of liquid manure or other fertilizer. 
As fall comes, gradually dry them off 
until the leaves ripen and drop off. 
Place in a moderately dry atmosphere (a 
damp cellar won’t do) and keep dry until 
they are ready to grow again when they 
will usually commence operations by push- 
ing up a bud into view. 
Mrs. F. A. Lorenz (Ohio) 
MULTIPLICATION OF GLADI- 
OLUS CORMS BY CUTTING. 
In a recent number there was a question 
about cutting Gladiolus bulbs at the time of 
planting, and as I have utilized this method 
for years, I may say that I have had little 
success when I have made more than two 
divisions, but when cut into two, the re- 
sults are satisfactory in bloom and the 
resulting bulbs are of good size. Cutting 
must be made at the time of planting, and 
if, when the bulb is examined, it is found 
that two shoots are coming anyway, there is 
no advantage in cutting, but if the bulb in- 
tended to grow only one spike, cutting will 
compel it to make two. I have had the idea 
that one could cut into 3 or 4 divisions if 
the bulb were planted, and allowed to make 
roots two inches long, and then taken up 
and divided. The roots are the vital point, 
and once they are fairly started they ought 
to develop a shoot. No experiments in this 
direction have been tried by me, but the 
theory appeals to me. 
W. E. Saunders. 
EARLY PLANTING FOR GLADIOLI. 
I have learned by experience to put all 
my bulbs in at one time, not later than the 
last of April if possible. I plant at least six 
inches deep and hoe the rows toward the 
plants the last time they are cultivated. I 
secure a succession of bloom for over six 
weeks, and what more can anyone ask for? 
By early planting every bulb has its proper 
chance to grow big and sound, which late 
planted bulbs never do. Bulbs planted 
deeply need no stakes. I cut my bloom 
every day as it opens, never allowing more 
than three flowers to open before cutting. 
I think this tends to make the bulbs stronger. 
I plant in the vegetable garden or potato 
field, as 1 think they do much better under 
the deep thorough cultivation they receive 
there. 
Mrs. E. B. Murray. 
RAPID METHOD OF PEELING 
CORMELS BEFORE PLANTING. 
For peeling cormels I use a small stiff pair 
of tweezers such as barbers use for remov- 
ing ingrowing hairs. They should have 
fairly sharp points. Hold the cormel in the 
left hand and grab the point with the twee- 
z«rs giving a quick pull. This will tear off a 
strip of the outer covering without injury 
to the kernel. If the skin breaks moisten 
X3l>e Slower (Brower 
the cormels a little. I do not find that the 
husk needs to be entirely removed. 
Have developed a speed of 14 to 15 a 
minute using this method. A covering of 
burlap is helpful in germinating peeled 
cormels. 
Arthur C. Perrin. 
TO GET HIGH GERMINA- 
TION OF GLADIOLUS CORMELS. 
Pass this along the line. I got my small 
bulblets to grow well in the following way : 
Dug a flat bottom trench three inches deep 
and three inches wide at the bottom. Then 
I poured boiling hot water in at the rate of 
about six quarts of water to ten feet of 
trench. As soon as I could bear my hand 
in the dirt turned in the bulblets evenly. It 
seems that every one of them came up. 
W. J. Eldred. 
SECURING PEONY SEED. 
I did not deem it necessary to instruct 
where to secure the seed. Any florist, or 
any one having a blooming clump of single 
Peonies, will have seed. No single Peony 
fails to seed freely. My only clump of single 
white, and not over large, bore a full pint of 
seeds near as large as small early garden 
peas. It seemed a very shame to allow 
these all to go to waste, and this was how 
we decided on the experiment of seeing 
what we would get by planting them. The 
seedsmen do not offer them for the same 
reason that florists did not offer the roots, 
until I had personally appealed, insisted and 
unloaded my surplus onto them almost with- 
out their consent. The majority of the 
seedlings are single, semi-double and little 
Japs; all seed bearing plants. I had one 
year just 20 lbs. of seeds at $5 per pound, 
selling for $100 cash, and same as with my 
first offerings of roots, I had to hustle out 
to find a market, but as with the plants, our 
Uncle Sam helped me promptly. Never yet 
failed. “Faint heart never won,” etc. 
One can sell any plant or seed if really 
worth marketing. A few letters to the 
florists and you are sure to find the right 
man, if you have it in quantity to make it 
worth his while. 
By buying a good sized plant three or four 
years old, its first bloom will give you all the 
seed you care for perhaps. You may visit a 
nursery in July, and be able to gather all 
you care for. As to advertising them, no 
one perhaps has sufficient amount to meet 
the scores of letters and orders that would 
follow. 
It may be well to state, if seeds are 
planted as soon as ripe, they will grow at 
once and be winter-killed, as will most plants 
so young. 
Sarah A. Pleas. 
HARDY PERENNIALS. 
The article on Hardy Perennials was great- 
ly enjoyed. I have been preaching the re- 
ligion of the hardy garden, lo, these many 
years, as against annuals, and the formal beds 
in colors of bulbs, or tender Coleus or other 
greenhouse plants for the mother or busy 
housekeeper, and all who love nature in all 
her varied displays of mixed colors. Have 
never seen a combination in nature that did 
not harmonize. 
By selecting the earliest Phlox, with some 
of the most beautiful later kinds, including 
white, I soon have them in every shade and 
marking, from the earliest bloom until frost, 
the bees and insects being nature’s hybrid- 
izers. Since, when the black bugs destroyed 
their bloom, I could only foil them by break- 
ing out the entire head, when it would soon 
be renewed by one larger, flatter, and more 
floriferous than had been the first. By keep- 
55 
ing this up, the season of bugs has passed, 
and I thus keep my Phloxes full of bloom un- 
til frost. This treatment is as satisfactorily 
practiced on Hollyhocks and Perennial Lark- 
spurs, and some other perennials and shrubs. 
Sarah A. Pleas. 
PAMPAS NOT BLOOMING. 
A subscriber in the state of Washington re- 
ports, that a large thrifty looking clump of 
Pampas Grass in his lawn, which is six years 
old and grows luxuriously, has never pro- 
duced any of the silvery Pampas plumes. 
His soil is a sandy loam with good drainage 
and he irrigates during the dry summer 
months, and the clump seems free of disease 
and insect pests, and stands five feet high. 
Any reader having experience will confer a 
favor by giving information on this subject. 
“ Baby Bettie ” among the Asters— Showing an 
unusually fine growth of Asters. 
Mrs. Austin’s Talks. 
[ Continued from page 51.] 
the grasslike blades from bulblets of 
the preceding season’s formation. If 
the owner of that little Paradise of 
bloom could know of the pleasure his 
garden had afforded me I am sure he 
would have felt well repaid for his 
efforts. I was loth to leave that lovely 
place but the sun was dropping behind 
the hills; we were a long way from 
our rooms. 
We feel that some of the great things 
of California are right here at the door 
of our apartment for the entrance is 
mantled with a climbing Rose, the 
height we estimate at 25 feet, and its 
spreading width fully 30 feet. 
One member of our party is a lumber- 
man and when his practiced eye rested 
on the trunk of that Rose bush he 
recognized it as big timber, whisked out 
a rule and was caught by the camera. 
Seven and one-half inches in diameter 
by actual measurement. 
Mrs. A. H. Austin. 
Those who cannot send us a list of 
actual subscribers at the special club 
rate as per our recent circular offer, 
should send us a list of all those whom 
they know to be real flower lovers. 
