78 
Ol)£ Slower (Brower 
nuERIES *-'ANSWER$ 
DEPARTMENT ^ 
[This department of The Flower Grower is intended to be one of its most helpful and 
valuable features. All questions asked in good faith and which are of general interest will 
have careful attention. The full name and address of the writer must be given, but not 
for publication.] — Editor. 
Dahlias in Tennessee. 
We have sold some Iris and other plants to florists 
and had thought of raising more next Summer. 
Would Dahlias be likely to sell well? Can they be 
sprouted in a cold frame ? I have no hothouse. Will 
they need a support when growing for tubers ? Can 
the tubers be cut up and planted without sprouting 
them? I would like advice on Dahlias, Cannas and 
tuberoses. w. h. b. 
Greenville, Tenn. 
Answer : — While large growers North make 
money out of Dahlias, I am not sure that your 
section is the most favorable one for them, 
especially as you would have to sell to the 
trade, and the trade can get supplies nearer 
at home. The tubers can be sprouted in cold 
frames, and in your section will be all the 
better for not planting too early. Here I 
take them up when the weather has become 
mild, for I bury them outside in heaps like 
sweet potatoes and then usually find that 
they are already sprouted and ready to di- 
vide. But if not, I simply let them lie in 
the sun till the eyes start, for it is hard to 
say before sprouting where the eyes are. 
Merely for growing the tubers it is not 
necessary to stake them, if planted four feet 
apart each way. But for looks and bloom 
they should be staked. The large growers 
of tuberoses in the moist, sandy soil of East- 
ern North Carolina pretty well supply all 
the demand there is for these, and they also 
supply Cannas and Caladiums largely. I 
have found the Candidum lily one of the 
best plants to grow for profit. I sold mine 
too closely and sent an order to north of 
France for planting bulbs, which was ac- 
cepted. But the war swept over that sec- 
tion and I did not get them. Now all are 
imported from south of France, and these 
are not so fine as the northern ones — that is, 
do not make good flowers. These should be 
planted in September to make their Winter 
growth. We can make as fine bulbs as the 
French. Then, here, where I am but a few 
hours from Philadelphia and New York, I 
found the cut flowers as profitable as the 
bulbs, and when I can stock up again I shall 
depend mainly on the blooms till I get a 
large stock of bulbs. The various species of 
Iris should pay very well with you. On low, 
moist land the Japanese Iris does finely and 
is in demand.— W. F. Massey in Rural New 
Yorker. 
Time of Moon for Planting Gladioli. 
To the Editor : — 
What time of the moon for best increase 
of corms and cormels, should be observed in 
planting Gladioli? W. D. P. 
Answer : — While we sympathize with 
the old-fashioned ideas of people who 
think that the moon may have some 
influence on the growth of vegetation 
on the earth, yet we cannot find any 
real evidence that there is any virtue 
in paying attention to the time of moon 
in planting various crops. The ex- 
periments stations will not admit that 
the moon has any influence on the 
growing of crops. We believe that 
there is less and less attention paid to 
the phase of the moon in the planting 
of crops, and nowadays it is more a 
question of getting the work done than 
it is to pick out any particular time for 
doing it. 
The Glad Philosopher’s 
! Musings. | 
In nearly every community there 
abides some noble woman who loves 
flowers and grows them in her garden, 
and from her goodly store generously 
supplies the pulpit of her church during 
the summer season. Often this good 
sister does not have the means to buy 
all the plants and bulbs and seeds she 
would like, and here is a hint to those 
who have a surplus — divide with the 
faithful “ flower-lady,” and then go 
around to the church yourself on Sun- 
day mornings, and I’ll wager that you’ll 
enjoy the service more than you ever 
did before. 
The Glad Philosopher is fortunately 
identified with a church which has just 
such a generous woman who loves to 
garden and to give her flowers away. 
Having no children and few cares, she 
took up gardening as a pastime and 
found that it gave her robust health as 
well as much pleasure. Her garden 
furnishes flowers liberally for the 
church every Sunday without interrup- 
tion from early spring until late au- 
tumn, and when the writer makes up 
his order for Darwin Tulips, Gladioli, 
etc., he occasionally adds an extra fifty 
or hundred for the faithful sister’s gar- 
den and the resultant church bouquet. 
The Gladiolus is pre-eminently adapt- 
ed for use as a cut flower, and more 
valuable as such than for garden decor- 
ation, as sometimes grown, and so it 
is not out of place in the vegetable 
garden, growing in stately rows in 
close company with the beets and beans 
and cabbages. In fact, I would en- 
courage this location in preference to 
one where decorative effect might be 
required. 
The writer has in mind at least one 
instance where an injudicious use of 
the Gladiolus resulted in its being en- 
tirely discarded by a person who bought 
corms by the thousand and had them 
July, 1918 
planted in a single row along the en- 
tire front of a large field bordering the 
roadway in front of his country place, 
where shrubbery would have been 
more fitting. As the bulbs were planted 
in succession, the result was anything 
but satisfactory and the doom of the 
Gladiolus was at once sealed. Had he 
planted the bulbs in his garden, and 
cut the blooms for house and porch 
decoration he would still love the Gladi- 
olus, even as you and I. 
Don’t misuse the Gladiolus. It is 
the cut flower par excellence, but it 
cannot take the place of the spirea, 
the barberry or the deutzia. 
The Glad Philosopher is an office 
man and only raises flowers as a di- 
version— a healthful recreation — and 
for the love of them. His desk is never 
without its vase of beautiful flowers 
from the first jonquils of spring to the 
last asters of autumn. Darwin Tulips, 
German, Spanish and Japanese Irises, 
Peonies, Roses, Gladioli, etc., all take 
their turn in the vase on the top of the 
desk, and each kind seems to be trying 
to outvie the others in charm and loveli- 
ness. Do you ask me which flower 
in the season’s procession gives me the 
most enjoyment? I’ll tell you. It’s 
the one that is before me — now. 
The Glad Philosopher. 
Vegetables vs. Flowers 
in War Time. 
[Continued from page 71 .] 
Try interplanting rows of flowers 
with vegetables. You will be surprised 
to note how well they harmonize and 
thrive. Few ferns furnish a finer back- 
ground for flowers than the delicate, 
lacy leaves of the carrot, and such 
flowers as Sweet Peas and Gladioli 
actually seem to give better results 
when planted in the vegetable garden. 
When early peas are out of the way 
that space may be utilized to plant 
Gladioli, Baby Breath, Nasturtiums and 
other plants that will bloom at a late 
planting. If you plant flowers in bord- 
ers or beds, the various varieties of 
lettuce may be used effectively as edg- 
ing plants. Enclose your combination 
garden with a hedge of Dahlias, give it 
a reasonable amount of care and in 
due season you will have a garden that 
I know from experience will prove most 
useful, convenient and peculiarly suited 
to these unusual times. Such a garden 
is a “ time saver ” in many ways. It 
is so suggestive and easy while getting 
vegetables to gather, at the same time, 
flowers for table or house decoration, 
that even the busiest housewife can 
always spare a few moments to adorn 
the home with flowers. 
As the production of food is of the 
highest importance raise all the vege- 
tables that you can but do not sacrifice 
your flower garden for 
A garden is a lovesome thing God wrot 
Rose plot 
Fringed pool 
Ferned grot 
The veriest school 
Of peace ; and yet the fool 
Contends that God is not. 
Not God in gardens when the eve is cool ? 
Nay, but I have a sign 
’Tis very sure God walks in mine. 
