March, 1918 
The Glad Philosopher’s 
Musings. 
[ IV riten expressly for The Flower ( Irower . ] 
A Rose by any other name than Suz- 
anne Marie Rodacanachi or Gloire de 
Chedane Guinoisseau would smell as 
sweet, and a Peony named Sir Spencer 
Ponsonby Fane or Prince Pierre Troub- 
etskoy is not one whit more beautiful for 
bearing such a stupendous appellation. 
Killarney has much sweeter fragance 
than either Rose, and Venus is far more 
beautiful than either Peony, Why do 
the disseminators— generally foreign — 
saddle such awful names on some of 
their productions? It is providentially 
fortunate that they seldom have merit 
enough to become popular — how trying 
it would be to have to answer our 
friends’ inquiries for their names, were 
the flowers strikingly beautiful. 
If the Glad Philosopher were about to 
christen a new variety, and in doing so 
wished to honor a friend, or adulate a 
titled dignitary who might happen to 
be afflicted with a name as long as 
either of the above, said friend or dig- 
nitary would first be importuned to go 
before the court and make application 
to have his name changed to Joe Hepp, 
or Bill Jones, or some other one equally 
easy for the flower-loving public to re- 
member. 
The practice of selecting names that 
are moderately short and euphonious, 
especially those that are in themselves 
suggestive of certain qualifications or 
peculiarities of the flower is most com- 
mendable and should be further en- 
couraged. It would be hard, indeed, 
to improve on many of the names that 
have been given to some of the choicest 
varieties of the Gladiolus. Long live 
the popularity of such sensibly-named 
ones as America, Niagara, Panama, 
Independence, Peace, War, Dawn, Love- 
liness, etc. 
It is fortunate for the popularity of 
the variety Negerfurst, especially in 
the southern states of the U. S. A., 
that its name is not pronounced 
phonetically as it is spelled. The 
proper pronunciation is as if spelled 
Nej-er-furst, accent on first syllable. 
The creator of a fragrant Gladiolus 
will have aone much for the flower- 
loving world. The lack of perfume in 
that beautiful flower seems to be its 
only shortcoming. And yet this de- 
ficiency is deemed to be for some pur- 
poses its best recommendation, for is 
it not the funeral flower par excel- 
lence because of the absence of those 
heavy, sickening odors that charac- 
terize some of the flowers often used 
for that purpose ? 
The Glad Philosopher. 
The Glad Philosopher has some very 
pointed and helpful things to say and 
we expect to have him with us each 
month for several months to come. He 
sees a lot of things that are not plain to 
many of us. 
Obe Slower (Brower 
Do Gladiolus Corms Grow Old ? 
By R. C. H. Lenski. 
[ W ritten expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
I have some notions of my own in 
regard to Gladioli. Some of them, I 
fear, are not quite orthodox. I can- 
not help that — I hold them neverthe- 
less. 
This thing about “old” corms is one. 
Even the editor himself believes that 
corms grown year after year dete- 
riorate and finally become worthless. 
The finest result is said to come from 
corms two years old if well grown, or 
three years old if grown less strongly. 
Let me say frankly that my experience 
does not bear this out. To be sure, 
fine, fat, round, young corms rapidly 
grown give very fine results. But 
large, fullgrown bulbs, older by one or 
several years, will give equal and still 
finer results. I have had the most ex- 
cellent results from such “old” corms 
year after year. In fact, the larger 
the corm, the better the result is likely 
to be. When corms grow larger from 
year to year, they often become flat 
and wide, but, if grown in good soil, 
these large corms usually throw two, 
sometimes three flower spikes and pro- 
duce new corms and cormlets accord- 
ingly. Even corms which have not 
done well in one season for some reason 
or other, may be expected to become 
large and fine the following season and 
after, if placed in a good location and 
grown in first class soil. And this, I 
think, may be expected to continue in- 
definitely. My conviction may seem 
heretical, yet I have based it on my ex- 
perience and observation alone. 
Mr. Kunderd sent me one corm of 
Fair Columbian three years ago. It 
grew in fine shape and bore just about 
100 cormels. These I broke out of 
their little husks and planted close by 
the gate to my poultry yard, where I 
could throw the water from the drink- 
ing vessel of the hens when I gave 
them fresh water daily. A number of 
these cormels bloomed the first season, 
and the old corm, quite large when 
planted, bore three fine bloom spikes, 
and besides this furnished a lot 
of cormels. All the 100 cormels had a 
lot of new cormels. I planted all of 
these Fair Columbians in a row, sowing 
the cormels at one end quite thickly. 
I harvested the lot last fall, now about 
125 fine corms, many of them very large, 
and cormels galore. According to rule 
the original corm should now be con- 
sidered “old” and decreasing in vitality. 
But I do not think any Gladiolus 
grower could possibly tell which the 
old corm in my basketful is now — it is 
there, of course, but in a new guise, as 
full of life as ever. This Fair Colum- 
bian is a “fair” example, by the way, of 
what one can do with a single bulb. 
At the rate it is going I will have to 
give it the whole garden for itself in a 
few years. 
Note by the Editor— 
It would seem that the only way to deter- 
mine positively the effect of age on Gladiolus 
corms is a test covering a considerable period 
of years, at least five or six years. Who is 
ready to make such a test and keep records? 
31 
THE PEONY. 
NOTES ON THE PEONY. 
by E. Y. Teas. 
[ Written expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
Peonies are among our most beauti- 
ful and desirable hardy herbaceous 
flowering plants. The old fashioned 
red, Officinalis Rubra Plena has been 
cultivated in England more than 100 
years and in America at least 80, and 
is today one of the most beautiful. It 
is a native of Switzerland. 
There are now more than 500 named 
varieties in cultivation, all hybrids of 
Chinese and Japanese varieties, none 
are earlier and few more beautiful than 
the old fashioned crimson. The newer 
varieties lengthen the season of bloom- 
ing near a month. 
The greatest demand for cut bloom 
is, in this locality, Decoration Day, 
May 31st. There are few except Offi- 
cinalis that meet this demand usually. 
For quick results plants two years 
grown since division should be used. 
Those who wish to increase the num- 
ber of their plants quickly, without 
regard to the bloom, should divide 2 
or 3 year clumps with 4 to 6 plants for 
resetting, without expecting much 
bloom until the second year. 
In our latitude, about the end of 
August is the date when Peony roots 
are at perfect rest, and this is the best 
time to replant. If plants are dug 
about this date and reset in moist soil 
they will begin to form new roots 
within two weeks, thus being in better 
shape for future growth than though 
removal is delayed till fall or spring. 
Peonies delight in rich, strong soil. 
It is an advantage to some after 
planting to mulch the surface to a 
depth of about two inches with fresh 
stable manure. This will tend to keep 
the soil moist through the autumn 
drouth and protect the plants from 
being lifted out by freezing and thaw- 
ing in winter and spring, besides the 
fertility in the manure will settle in 
the soil for the sustenance of the 
plants. 
Peonies after standing in one place 
five or six years become root bound 
and lose their vigor and size of bloom. 
I find it well in such cases to take 
a sharp spade and cut down in the 
center of the clump about a foot deep 
and take out half the clump, filling the 
hole with rich soil, so new roots may 
reach fresh soil and revive the plant. 
A mulch of fresh manure every 
winter is a benefit to the plant, how- 
ever, it may be unsightly. 
Peonies as well as the Gladiolus 
bloom more beautifully in our Northern 
States and Canada than in the warm 
South. 
The weather has been so depressing 
and disagreeable during the winter that 
many people have put off ordering their 
bulbs and flower seeds and plants until 
past the usual time when they order. 
We urge that those who have not al- 
ready ordered should get busy and do 
so at once. 
