October, *1920 
159 
J^low^r (Brower 
The S. A. F. & O. H. Con- 
vention — About Gladioli. 
O N THE first morning 
of the S. A. F.&O. H. 
Convention in Cleve- 
land, a long line of 
florists stood in the lobby of 
the Hollenden — the head- 
quarters of the society for 
the ensuing week— e a c h 
awaiting his turn to register. 
And there I had a brief opportunity to 
study people, some of whom I was sure 
were business friends and with whose 
signatures I was acquainted, but whose 
faces were unfamiliar. In the interval 
I fell to matching faces with the signa- 
tures in my mind. 
“ Surely that large man with the 
brown eyes and pleasant smile must 
be the one who wrote us that treasured 
letter about one of our flowers, yet he 
looks most too young.” Later I learned 
that he was both good and great but 
not the one pictured in my mind. 
“ That fierce-looking gentleman, with 
the hawk-eye, and business writ all 
over his face, and whose mustache 
fairly bristles blue pencils, certainly 
must be the editor of that Trade Paper 
that I feel I cannot do without.” Again 
I was mistaken, the editor really being 
quite the reverse, and an exceptionally 
pleasing young man to meet. 
“ There’s that young looking man of 
thirty-five or there about, I hear them 
call him and some one told me 
that he married that pretty little girl 
that was in my Sunday school class 
years ago. She was a nice little thing, 
always knew her Golden Text. I’ll 
inquire after her,” but with a boyish 
smile he returned : “ Impossible, my 
wife’s past fifty and I am older than 
she.” 
I’m not young myself, but — well he 
certainly was nice about it. This inci- 
dent flooded me with the light of reve- 
lation. Of course all florists look young. 
To be sure some of those young-faced 
men and women might be old but only 
in years, their chosen work of growing 
and working with flowers has kept 
their hearts young and it is reflected 
in their earnest youthful looking faces. 
These great florists of the S. A. F. 
are truly the leaders of the nation as 
far as flowers are concerned and their 
meeting is really for consultation and 
consideration of its advancement for 
wherever flowers are used it is for bet- 
terment in the higher things of life, 
and it behooves all growers and lovers 
of flowers to give thought to the man- 
ner in which they may be helpers. We 
have been growing Gladioli over thirty 
years and when we became overstocked 
and I put my first little advertisement 
— just for pinmoney you know— in a 
trade paper, then in its infancy, there 
was only one other little advertisement 
to keep it company. Right then I 
realized the importance of publicity 
for flowers, but there was another need, 
that of organization, and yet another, 
that of teaching the value 
and use of flowers and that 
they hold a place where 
nothing else can be used in 
substitution. These needs 
are still with us and greater 
than ever for we have flow- 
ers that are being wasted 
by the million because the 
mind of the public has not 
been directed to the neces- 
sity of flowers and the vari- 
ous ways in which they may be used. 
Last week I attended a funeral where 
there were auto loads of flowers, and 
when a woman in speaking of the de- 
ceased, remarked, ‘‘She was such a 
lover of flowers,” I made the inquiry, 
“Did you ever give her any ?” The re- 
ply was “No, but this is a lesson to me, 
to give while they live as well as when 
they are gone. If those friends had 
filled her home with flowers on her 
birthday or some other happy occasion 
when she was well and could have en- 
joyed them and brought much happi- 
ness. Very likely this might have hap- 
pened more than once if the idea had 
ever been suggested. Of course none 
the less should they have sent them to 
the house of mourning expressing 
through them their love for her and 
cheering sympathy for her dear ones. 
Now that the Gladiolus has become 
such a factor in the flower world, all 
growers should become more and more 
critical in their selection of seedlings. 
If you have a new one that attracts 
your attention, study it carefully re- 
membering a few traits it must have 
to be worth growing, and as many 
better ones as possible. It is a great 
expense of time and money to grow 
and place a new variety on the market 
and it should be one that the purchaser 
who buys for trial, will find so distinc- 
tive that he will come back to buy 
again for use. I have a judge’s score 
card before me that may be helpful in 
selecting your new varieties. 
Score Card. 
For use in judging Gladioli. Prepared by 
direction of the Gladiolus Society of Ohio. 
Note— T he ideal or perfect Gladiolus combining 
all the qualities here enumerated, should score 100 
points. Approximation to the ideal standard, which 
is all that can be looked for at this time, should be 
designated by the award of points ranging from 0 to 
the full total in each case, according to the excellences 
of the specimen under consideration. 
1. Spike— 20 Points— Long, 5 ; straight, 
5; many blooms, 5; facing together, 
5 20 
2. Flower— 25 Points— Large, 5 ; wide- 
ly opened, 5 ; broad, round petals, 5 ; 
substance and texture, 5 ; beauty of 
bud 5 25 
3. Color— 20 Points— Attractive, 10; 
either clear self, or strikingly marked, 
5 ; adapted to cut flower trade or 
florists’ use, 5 20 
4. Foliage — 15 Points— Dark, healthy 
green, 5 ; broad, 5 ; abundant, 5 15 
5. Durability— 10 Pts. — Continuance of 
bloom on spike, 5 ; lasting qualities 
as cut flowers, 5 10 
6. General Effect — 10 Pts.— In mass, 
bed oVifield, 5 ; in vase or cut dis- 
play, 5 jo 
Full total ioo 
Among the S. A. F. exhibits were 
quite a number of new, and compara- 
tively new Gladioli that possessed mer- 
it. An especially pleasing variety was 
No. 406 which I suppose will make its 
debut ere long under name. 
Fairy, the exquisite shell pink Primu- 
linus Hybrid was most beautiful. 
Early Sunrise showed good substance 
and large size, and growing in my own 
test plot this season, under ordinary 
conditions, measured 5 ft. 4 inches in 
height with well placed flowers five 
inches across. Planted June 20, bloomed 
August 17th. 
One exhibit of 600 spikes of variety 
Wilhemena Gude, brought from Ten- 
nessee, showed remarkable substance. 
Among the better known varieties 
Golden Measure, Mrs. Dr. Norton, Ni- 
agara, Evelyn Kirtland, Herada, Mrs 
Frank Pendleton, Jr., Gretchen Zang, 
were all well grown and made a good 
showing. 
Artificial flowers, Xmas trees, and 
colored grasses were there a plenty. 
Our dignified Teasels were there in 
new colors, old blue, etc. They are of 
course artistic and have a place some- 
where like artificial flowers, but I be- 
lieve I could “say it” better with real 
flowers. 
Mrs. A. H. Austin. 
Ornamental Shrubs. 
One who would have his grounds as at- 
tractive as possible must exercise consider- 
able discrimination in selecting his plants. 
Too often one yields to the temptation to 
plant shrubs that shall present an attractive 
appearance at flowering time only, whereas, 
if more thought were given to the matter, 
equally fine plants could be selected that 
would possess much beauty at other times. 
There are always sufficient flowers when the 
great burst of bloom is on in May, but often 
there is a conspicuous lack both earlier and 
later. By judicious planting one may, how- 
ever, have flowers both early and late, and 
bright colors always. Early spring brings 
the golden bell, corylopsis and garland flower 
(Daphne) while some species of dogwood 
and willow vie with them in color. In late 
summer there are the Rose-of-Sharon, blue 
sage ( Caryopteris mastacantha), butterfly bush, 
pea tree, abelia, hercules club and various 
others. Even autumn is not without its 
blooming shrubs and the witch hazel often 
flowers in November. The brightest colors 
of this latter season, however, are given by 
leaves, berries and bark. The bright red of 
barberry, high bush cranberry, and haw- 
thorn, the orange and red of bittersweet, and 
the clear white of snowberry, are more con- 
spicuous after the leaves have fallen, but 
the most brilliant reds of autumn are due 
to the colors put on by the leaves of sumach, 
chokeberry, barberry, and young plants of 
the wild crab. If nurserymen were to give 
somewhat more emphasis to the good points 
that shrubs possess in addition to flowers, it 
is probable that a more extensive business 
would result. — The American Botanist. 
The Kunderd Gladiolus varieties 
Mary Pickford and E. J. Shaylor were 
both awarded first class certificates of 
merit by the Royal Horticultural So- 
ciety of London on August 10th. These 
varieties are both comparatively well 
known in this country. 
I MRS. AUSTIN’S TALKS | 
: [ IVritten expressly for The Flower Grower. ] jj 
