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Volume V 
Number 5 
| FOR BOTH AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL 
I GROWERS OF THE GLADIOLUS, DAHLIA, IRIS, ETC. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY ON THE FIRST OF THE [ 
MONTH BY MADISON COOPER, CALCIUM, N. Y. j 
Observations on Gladiolus Growing in Southern California. 
I Written expressly for The Flower Grower.] BY DR. C. H. CASTLE. 
T he celebrated climate of 
Southern California has been so 
well advertised in the past that 
any comment I might make would be 
unnecessary except that any grower 
reading these lines should remember 
the characteristics of the climate in 
that we have only a decided wet and a 
dry season. 
As an average, our rainfall is con- 
fined to the months of the Eastern 
winter, and there are seasons such as 
the present one in which we had prac- 
tically no rain for over eight months. 
We can feel sure that after the first of 
April each year there will be no rain to 
speak of till the following October 
when the corms are dug and in storage. 
The culture of the Gladiolus during 
a season is something like this ; the 
field of course being dry is irrigated in 
the fall by flooding, say in the months 
of October or November. There may 
be rain but we do not depend on it. 
The ground is plowed as deep as pos- 
sible with teams at least ten inches, 
cross plowed and harrowed twice each 
way. Then the furrows for the bulbs 
are laid off, eighteen inches for hand 
cultivation and two feet apart for horse 
cultivation. 
These furrows are made by the use 
of a small plow once each way in the 
row, throwing the dirt out on both sides. 
This leaves a ditch rather square on 
the sides, the width depending on the 
size of the plow used. Water is 
then run in the ditches to moisten 
the subsoil. The bulbs are planted 
any time thereafter, but I have secured 
better results from the plantings made 
from the 15th of December to the 1st 
of February. I use the same method 
for bulbs of all sizes only planting 
fewer across the row as the sizes grow 
larger. I have never planted single 
rows but as many as four flowering 
bulbs across the ditch at about twice 
the width of the bulb apart. Bulblets 
are planted broadcast in the ditches 
and covered the same as the bulbs. 
The bulbs are covered by hand labor 
using the ridge on one side to cover 
the row next to it. I then apply a top 
GLADIOLUS — INCONTESTABLE. 
Originated from the Island of Guernsey and 
exhibited at Noordwijk, Holland, by Alke- 
made & Co. 
In 1913 it was given an Award of Merit by 
the National Gladiolus Society of London and 
by the General Bulb Growers' Society, of 
Haarlem, Holland. 
The National Gladiolus Society’s 1913 hand- 
book describes it as follows: Gladiolus Le- 
moineii Incontestable, pure white, in the 
center spotted orange and carmine. 
The same Society’s annual for 1915 notes 
that it has been placed on the Society’s regis- 
ter and that the date of flowering was July 
11th, its height 3 ft. 9 in. and that the flowers 
were very large and that it was a fine show va- 
riety. 
dressing of fresh dairy or chicken ferti- 
lizer and leave the field till the sprouts 
show above the ground. When the 
stalks are about six inches high, and 
have two or three leaves, furrows are 
run between the rows about four inches 
deep and the dirt thrown up around 
the plants. This ditch is then filled 
with fresh fertilizer and watered by 
sprinkling. This is done every two 
weeks if there is no rain and is followed 
by cultivation. When the first buds 
are formed another layer of fertilizer 
is applied and watered thoroughly. This 
is the last food the bulbs are given and 
after the last cuttings have been made 
the field is allowed to dry off and when 
the bulbs are dug they are already 
cured and will stand shipment or stor- 
age. 
In growing Gladioli I have no use for 
well rotted or leached out manure ex- 
cept that it has been rotted into the 
field and I cannot see that the character 
of the soil or the chemical elements of 
it in the top four inches, that is the 
part above the bulb is going to be of 
any use to a bulb that sends all its 
roots downwards. (Because of bottom 
irrigation— Ed.) The top soil to me is 
only a mulch to conserve the moisture 
and the fertilizer I put on the field each 
year furnishes the humus for the fol- 
lowing year, while the liquid elements 
of the fertilizer are washed down to 
the roots where needed. I also use 
this method in the home garden, dig- 
ging the ditches the width of a spade 
with distance enough between the rows 
to allow for cutting the blooms. 
There is a great deal of satisfaction 
in being able to control absolutely the 
water, giving as needed and withhold- 
ing if the plants seem to have plenty. 
At digging time there is no question 
as to whether your bulbs will dry as 
wished or not as you have control of 
these conditions. The tops are twisted 
off (better cut off — Ed.) and the bulb- 
lets removed at the time the bulbs are 
dug, the bulbs are stored in crates two 
feet wide and three feet long and three 
inches in depth. These are made of 
slats with cracks wide enough to per- 
