46 
Ol)e Slower (Brower 
April, 1918 
me, by sending out just such an evenly 
balanced mixture of beautiful varie- 
ties. None of the beauty or value 
should be lost by passing through my 
hands. Instead, I would add to it if 
possible. 
I saved seed from some that espe- 
cially appealed to me and from those 
seedlings, when in bloom, selected the 
largest and most beautiful to add to my 
lot because I realized there would soon 
be too many repetitions. Seedlings 
that did not attain the pinnacle of ex- 
cellence to entitle them to a place in 
my mixture, were not kept to be sold 
as cheap stock, but were destroyed. 
As I had received many inquiries for a 
florists’ mixture, and after adding seed- 
lings of my own raising I could not 
truthfully list it as Silver Trophy, Sec. 
2, I gave the mixture the name of 
Florists’ White and Light, and the de- 
scription included the yellows. 
I put a good share of my heart right 
into that mixture. It was my pride. 
The varieties I had added to it were 
not named and I did not know of any 
of the original Silver Trophy Sec. 2 hav- 
ing names. I sold stock from the mix- 
ture to various growers, (Mr. Huth 
among others) who eventually wrote 
their satisfaction. 
Again there was danger of too many 
repetitions and I decided that it was 
advisable to mark out some of the yel- 
lows and have a separate mixture 
composed of Yellows. I then bought 
varieties of named and numbered yel- 
lows to have greater variety. Each 
lot was grown separately and when 
they bloomed I found some of the lots 
to be the identical with the yellows 
which I had purchased in the Silver 
Trophy lot 111-112-113 my foster chil- 
dren with names and numbers, but the 
same dear faces had returned to me. 
Mrs. A. H. Austin. 
REMOVING TOPS FROM GLADIOLUS 
CORMS AFTER DIGGING. 
My experience is that when Gladioli 
are dug when quite green and not fully 
cured, it is well to leave the tops on 
until fully cured and the tops dry out. 
If, however, the bulbs are well ripened 
and the tops begin to turn yellow, it is 
best to cut off the top three or four 
inches above the bulb at the time of 
digging or after having laid in the sun 
for a day. My general plan is to let 
the bulbs get nearly ripe before dig- 
ging. This, of course, loses some bulb- 
lets but is better for the bulbs. 
W. D. Pitcher. 
Note by the Editor— 
We cannot agree with Mr. Pitcher in his 
method of cutting tops from Gladioli. Surely 
there is no good reason for leaving the top 
on after digging and the quicker they are 
cut off the better, and the closer they are 
cut to the bulb the better. 
UNUSUAL INCREASE OF GLADIOLI. 
From planting a second size corm of 
one of Kunderd’s unnamed seedlings I 
dug two 3 inch corms and 987 cormels, 
some of which reached over six inches 
away from the main corms. From 
planting to digging was nine months. 
c. M. S. 
A Rose Garden. 
By Horace M. Marshall, (Mississippi.) 
[ [f ’rittcn expressly for The Flower Grower . ] 
N OT ALL GARDENS in Mississippi 
are Roseless. The finest out-of- 
door Roses on earth, not except- 
ing the Vallee de Chamounix, grow in 
the alluvial valley of the Mississippi. 
Great bushes six or eight feet tall cov- 
ered with hundreds of blooms from 
middle March to late December. And 
such blooms ! As large as any that are 
forced in hothouses and bearing a per- 
fume such as no Rose grown under 
glass ever had. 
In the soft southern moonlight the odor, 
wafted on the breeze, 
Of this flower the purest pure just suits 
tender, true “Louise.” 
THE SOULFUL ROSE ! 
Not to grow Roses in a garden in 
the South is to advertise something 
lacking in one’s flower make-up. No 
other flower so fills up song and story 
— or the florists’ pockets. Reduced to 
dollars and cents the Rose is ahead of 
all other flowers, ten, fifteen, twenty, to 
one. Without it the garden under 
glass goes broke, and the garden in the 
open is but a patch of rambling weeds. 
Of course, a millionaire can grow 
orchids to tickle a taste as fickle as the 
appetite that surfeits on humming 
bird wings, or a plain ordinary out-of- 
door gardener who thinks nothing of 
blowing one dollar and a .quarter for 
bulbs, to be repeated ad infinitum, 
(which is going some these war times,) 
may get some yellow flowers early in 
the spring. But if out of doors a warm 
spell comes first, then Old Boreas 
" comes back ” from out of the howling 
West, the blossoms are nipped in the 
bud and " green and yellow melancholy 
sit like patience on a monument smil- 
ing at grief.” As oft quoted Shakes- 
peare said. 
Or even a " dry drought,” such as 
comes frequently in March will shrivel 
and brown those beautiful odorless 
narcissi with aristocratic names to 
match the gaudy impossible pictures 
in seedmen and florists’ catalogues. 
’Tis said "fine words butter no pars- 
nips” and they don’t make fine flowers 
in the garden any more than do the 
aforesaid pictures in the catalogues. 
It takes lots of fertilizer, work and 
water with plenty of " know how ” 
mixed in to grow flowers. 
But of all the flowers grown the Rose 
in the South is easiest, surest and most 
satisfying. Such a thing as a failure 
of flowers in a Rose garden is unknown 
— impossible. Be it hot, be it cold, be 
it wet or be it dry, Roses, down here, 
are sure to bloom. The Rose will grow 
and bloom anywhere in the South, un- 
der any treatment and in any soil. Not 
only will grow but is growing every- 
where except in "A Roseless Garden,” 
told about in glowing words and beau- 
tifully rounded sentences in February 
issue of The Flower Grower. 
Roses grow around Uncle Tom’s 
cabin, where the old man sitting on the 
outside under the soughing pine trees 
lays down the fiddle and the bow, and 
Old Aunt Jemima on the inside stops 
frying pan cakes, pokes her head out 
the window, to enjoy the whiff of Roses 
at evening tide. 
Or at first blush of morn around 
Milady’s window the grand, golden 
Marechal Niel fills the room with per- 
fume of Attar of Roses at one thousand 
dollars an ounce and makes no charge. 
But all this isn’t helping the flower 
grower — that is, the flower grower 
scattered all over the country digging 
the garden to make vegetables and 
garden "sass” help pull down the H. 
C. L. who or whom has a soul as well 
as a — bread basket. They, too, may 
think: 
“ If thou by fortune be bereft, 
And in thy store there be but left 
Two loaves — sell one and with the dole, 
Buy Hyacinths to feed thy soul.” 
To them I say, plant Roses, even 
among the cabbage. The bugs may eat 
the cabbage and let the Roses be. But 
it don’t matter, there will be plenty 
of Roses if you buy some La France, 
one year old, ten cent kind, if you can- 
not afford more or be not in a hurry. 
Caroline Testout, Kaiserine Augusta Vic- 
toria, Pearl of the Gardens, Soprano, 
Lyonaise, Paul Neyron, Marie Van 
Houtte, Maman Cochet, Souvenir de la 
Mai Maison, American Beauty, Duch- 
esse de Brabant, Jacqueminot, Climbing 
Devoniensis, Marechal Niel, Reine Marie 
Henriette, Maurice Rouvier, all of which 
are good growers and bloomers, ex- 
cept the Pearl. Order, also, some more 
recent, newer kind, a collection if you 
please. Have them to arrive the middle 
of November or February. 
If planted out in the fall protect with 
a little straw in very cold weather. If 
one year old plants are bought set 
them in a well prepared bed, in rows 
two feet apart, with about a foot and 
a half between plants. Make the bed 
like a cold frame without any cover. 
The following November transplant to 
permanent location in the garden. Per- 
manent is used advisedly : Roses 20 to 25 
years old are of frequent occurrence 
and some 50 years old are known here- 
abouts. 
Think of it, that man with “ A Rose- 
less Garden,” digging to beat the band 
and packing water on both shoulders, 
perhaps, while I, in my old age, enjoy 
the fruits — or rather flowers— planted 
in the days when I was young and full 
of hustle. 
The Flower Grower has been is- 
sued rather late in the month since 
January, but this month we are issuing 
earlier and we hope to have the May 
number in the mail promptly on the 
first. 
