March, 1918 
Ob<£ Slower (Brower 
33 
WAYSIDE RAMBLINGS 
A BEGINNER IN GLADIOLUS GROWING. 
I have been a Dahlia grower for over 
thirty years and have grown for the 
trade in a small way for twenty years. 
My business is not large but I keep it 
where I myself can personally prepare 
all my bulbs for the purchaser, thereby 
having but very few mistakes. I visit 
the garden of the large grower for the 
greater part of my selections after 
watching the good and bad qualities of 
the desired varieties. 
Three years ago I was advised by a 
friend to grow Gladioli. I commenced 
with 500 bulbs or corms, the next year 
I increased them to about 2,000 and be- 
side all the pleasure they were to me as 
cut flowers for my own home, a florist 
heard of my fine specimens and conse- 
quently they found a ready market at 
a good price. During the past year 
my trade has increased rapidly. I also 
surely had a "Beginner’s Experience.” 
I purchased several hundred corms of 
a reliable grower well known by the 
most of you, and as one must not ex- 
pect too much from a mixed variety, I 
purchased several dozen of his very 
best named varieties. The following 
year I sold the whole lot purchased of 
the "reliable man” as a cheap mixture. 
Some I paid 25c. each for I gladly sold 
for one cent each to get rid of them. 
We need experience and we get it. 
My Gladioli are beautiful and much 
sought after by people who see them. 
I try to give all who purchase either 
Dahlias or Gladioli a square deal and 
consequently am able to keep my cus- 
tomers, who in time become firm 
friends. I could not do without The 
Flower Grower, for it has taught me 
how to care for my Gladiolus corms 
and cormlets and I rarely lose one. 
Can any one advise me as to planting 
sweet pea seed in the fall for early 
spring flowering ? I have two pounds 
of seed planted Nov. 11th, and am 
anxiously awaiting results. At the 
present time I am watching Sweet Peas 
and Gladioli blooming amid all the 
beautiful Roses, Poinsettias, and Cacti 
and many other beautiful flowers in 
Florida. 
c. B. f. (Massachusetts). 
STORING DAHLIA TUBERS. 
In the December number of The 
Modern Gladiolus Grower, Paul L. 
Ward gives a perfect method of winter- 
ing Dahlia tubers, which he states he 
has practiced for years without the 
loss or shriveling of a single tuber. 
But in describing his said method he 
omits to state the all important thing 
to know and that is the winter tempera- 
ture of his cellar. 
If a cellar is too cold the tubers will 
surely rot and if it is too hot they are 
bound to shrivel. His cellar must be 
exactly right. What is the tempera- 
ture ? 
D. w. c. R. 
ORIGIN OF VARIETIES. 
In reading G. F. Woodruff’s article 
in the January issue my name seems to 
be prominent without connection. 
This brings to mind the article in Dec. 
issue by B. F. Stalnaker. Discussions 
of this kind are not of real interest to 
the public, but as every “ knock is a 
boost,” I perhaps should not complain. 
I will, however, try to explain : 
Any grower who keeps records of 
his stock, buying from other growers, 
as well as hybridizing himself will find 
many duplicates. To get the best, one 
does not buy mixtures, although the 
best varieties sometimes get into the 
mixtures. It seems to me that to the 
man who, by his labor, thought and 
expenditures puts upon the market a 
new variety, to him belongs the credit. 
Others may have found a similar 
bloom, admired it, and numbered it in 
his private collection, but what’s in a 
number? Any hybridizer will have 
many varieties he might name, but 
few will be worth while. I am willing 
to be called the god-father — if that’s 
the new name — to such winners as 
Crimson Glow, Maize and Mrs. A. C. 
Beal. Crimson Glow originated by Mr. 
Betscher, and two last named by Mr. 
Umpleby. Credit has already been 
given to these gentlemen. In regard 
to Sunset, Amethyst, Mrs. Lancashire 
and Rouge Torch, seedlings that origi- 
nated with us several years ago, and 
which have become widely scattered, 
it is not at all strange that some would 
be found in a mixture, even though 
they have been purchased from an- 
other hybridizer. I have thrown many 
high priced varieties into my mixture 
because I did not consider them worth 
cataloguing. All varieties named by 
me before 1917 have been certificated 
and recorded through the proper horti- 
cultural methods. 
B. Hammond Tracy. 
SEVEN GLADIOLUS CORMS FROM ONE. 
One of our subscribers sends us seven 
divisions resulting from one Gladiolus 
corm planted. Each division appar- 
ently had a stalk, but judging from 
appearance probably none of them 
bloomed. Our impression is that when 
a large number of divisions result from 
one corm that they are weak and of 
small value for bloom when planted. 
An experiment which we conducted 
along this line goes to prove this im- 
pression, but we are not yet prepared 
to make a positive statement to this 
effect. Anyone having experiece or 
having made tests and who can throw 
any light on this subject, we should be 
glad to hear from. 
A bulb dividing in this way is usually 
an old one and usually the divisions do 
not bloom. However, we are only giv- 
ing our own impression and would be 
glad to hear from others. — Editor. 
ORIGIN OF VARIETIES. 
Since reading what friends Stalnaker 
and Woodruff have said in the Decem- 
ber and January issues, it seems that 
an explanation from me is necessary 
to throw a little light on this subject, 
especially as to the varieties that I 
have listed under number. 
Several years ago I bought 1,000 
mixed selected seedlings of S. Huth, 
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who, I under- 
derstood, was Matthew Crawford’s 
son-in-law. That mixture was said to 
be composed of some of the best, se- 
lected from the millions of seedlings 
that had been grown by Mr. Crawford, 
who was the pioneer Gladiolus seed 
planter of America. The mixture con- 
tained only a few varieties. The first 
year I segregrated about 100 bulbs of a 
large pink variety and called it Early 
Pink on account of its extreme earli- 
ness. The second season I marked 
out four more varieties that were not 
very numerous and designated them 
H-l, H-2, H-3 and H-4. Later, because 
it required too much time explaining 
what the H meant, the designations 
were changed to Nos. Ill, 112, 113 
and 114. 
I think Matthew Crawford should 
have the credit of originating these 
varieties. While attending the annual 
meeting of the American Gladiolus 
Society at Chicago in 1912, I talked 
with both Mr. Crawford and Mr. Huth 
in regard to these varieties, and neither 
of them intimated to me but that they 
were originated by Mr. Crawford at 
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. 
This mixture was widely disseminated 
by Mr. Huth and re-sold by some as 
Groff’s Hybrids, on account of the ad- 
vertising that Groff’s Hybrids had re- 
ceived at the St. Louis Exposition. 
For the purpose of testing new va- 
rieties, I have bought most of these 
varieties under different names from 
other growers. No. 113 has been sold 
by the thousands as Beulah, Jane Dieu- 
lafoy and Rouge Torch. 
Independence, Blackhawk, Mrs. Frank 
Pendleton and many other good varie- 
ties were not considered worthy of a 
name by their originators, until their 
merits had been discovered by others 
who segregated them from seedling 
mixtures. 
G. D. Black. 
SPROUTING BULBLETS BEFORE PLANTING. 
I use boxes about 18 inches square 
and about three inches deep. The bot- 
tom of the box is covered with about 
one-half inch of rich soil. I use spent 
manure soil from hot-bed. Then a 
layer of bulblets and a layer of soil, only 
enough to cover the bulblets out of sight 
and repeat the same to within an inch 
of the top of the box. Thoroughly 
soak with water and cover with a wet 
burlap sack. Put in a warm place 
exposed to artificial heat. I put them 
under the kitchen range and they 
sprout quickly. My experience is that 
this is a very effective method no mat- 
ter how dry the bulblets have been 
kept. When the bulblets show a large 
percentage of sprouts they are sown 
