88 
Handling and Storing 
Gladiolus Bulbs. 
G. D. Black, Albert Lea, Minn., before Minnesota 
State Horticultural Society. 
Gladiolus bulbs are not dead or inanimate 
things like clods or stones. They are alive 
and will give us more and better flowers in 
return for good treatment, just as surely as 
do our domestic animals give us more and 
better eggs and milk when we give them the 
proper attention. 
Taking care of the bulbs during their 
dormant state, from the time they are har- 
vested until they are planted again, has not 
been given the attention that it deserves. It 
is not reasonable to expect best results from 
a bulb that has lost part of its vitality during 
this time. 
What I shall say on this subject will be 
based on my personal experience. 
We commence digging about the middle 
of September. We first harvest the small 
bulbs that have grown from bulblets. It is 
not necessary that these become ripe before 
they are dug. 
We prefer that they do not grow too large, 
so that we may be able to plant them next 
spring with our planter. If they are larger 
than three-fourths of an inch they must be 
planted by hand. 
These small bulbs are usually dug by 
loosening them with a spading fork, so they 
may be easily pulled up and broken from 
the tops into a sieve which will retain the 
bulbs and permit the soil to be shaken 
through. As we grow these small bulbs in 
such large quantities we do this work with 
a machine of our own construction. 
We next harvest the early varieties of the 
large bulbs and leave the latest varieties 
until the last. These should also be loosened 
with the spading fork so that they may be 
lifted easily from the soil. Large growers 
use a digger drawn by a horse, which runs 
under the bulbs without turning them over. 
If the bulbs are just ripe enough, the tops 
can be easily broken off without injury to 
the bulbs, but if they are tough they should 
be cut off close to the bulb with a sharp 
knife. 
The roots and old, shriveled bulbs can be 
pulled off easiest about a month later, be- 
fore they become too dry. These should al- 
ways be removed before the bulbs are 
planted again. 
A small quantity of bulbs may be stored 
in a market basket and placed on a shelf or 
hung from a joist in the cellar. If there are 
a number of different varieties that you wish 
to keep separate, they should be put in 
paper bags when dug. For storing large 
quantities we use crates eighteen to forty- 
eight inches in size. The bulbs should not 
be more than three or four inches deep in 
the crates or baskets, as they are liable to 
sprout or become mouldy if the air cannot 
circulate among and around them. 
They should always be kept dry and cool. 
A furnace room is usually too dry and warm, 
a wet cellar is too moist. A cellar which 
keeps potatoes well is usually all right if the 
potatoes are kept on the floor and the bulbs 
overhead. A cool closet that does not freeze 
is better than a very warm or damp cellar. 
They will keep in best condition in a tem- 
perature ranging from 32 to 40°, with just 
enough moisture in the air so that they will 
not shrink much. Too much moisture will 
cause them to sprout, which will weaken 
them as much as when they become too 
dry. This is the reason that Gladiolus bulbs 
imported from Holland are seldom satis- 
factory. 
If the temperature and humidity of the 
air in the storage cellar can be properly 
controlled, I do not know any reason why 
■Gladiolus bulbs may not be kept in the cel- 
lar through the summer and used for forcing 
in the greenhouse. They could be planted 
in September and October, or at least two 
Slower (Brower 
months before the new crop of bulbs are 
sufficiently cured to be available for this 
purpose. We have accidentally demonstrated 
this to our own satisfaction. In the autumn 
of 1915 we found two lots of about 100 each 
in the cellar on the crates that had been 
overlooked at planting time. 
One of the varieties, the Marie Lemoine, 
had grown new bulbs on the old bulbs, while 
on the crate in a dry cellar, without forming 
roots or tops. The other variety, No. 121, 
did not form new bulbs, but were somewhat 
shrunken. We saved both lots and planted 
them last spring. 
The new bulbs of Marie Lemoine which 
formed in the cellar the previous summer 
produced only a few spikes of bloom. The 
bulbs of No. 121, which had remained in 
the cellar for two winters and one summer, 
grew and bloomed just as well as bulbs of 
the same variety that were a year younger. 
A few days ago I found a few bulbs of 
Mrs. Francis King in the bulb cellar at Al- 
bert Lea that had formed new bulbs, while 
in a perfectly dry state. I have these bulbs 
here as proof of my veracity, as I will ad- 
mit that I should have been very slow to be- 
lieve this story until I had the actual experi- 
ence. 
Some time in April, 1915, we sent a small 
package containing four bulbs to a customer 
in New York. About a month later he wrote 
that he had not yet received the bulbs, and 
we refilled his order. In April, 1916, just 
about a year after we had sent the first 
package, he received it and returned it to 
me, remarking that a history of its journey 
for a whole year might be interesting. 
A neighbor of mine who is a railway mail 
clerk says that small packages and letters 
are sometimes left in the mail bags when 
being emptied, and it is a rule that when 
ten empty bags accumulate in a car they are 
made into a bundle and sent to Chicago or 
some other large terminal. It is supposed 
that this small package of bulbs was stored 
away in a bundle of mail bags for about a 
year before it was discovered and sent on to 
its destination. Upon examination we found 
that one of the bulbs in this package had 
grown a new bulb about an inch in diam- 
eter. We planted the new bulb that prob- 
ably grew in a mail bag and it produced a 
small spike of bloom. I hesitated quite a 
while before writing about this incident be- 
cause it is almost unbelievable to those who 
have not had much experience with the 
Gladiolus. 
Red Cross and Hospitals 
Benefit from Peony Bloom. 
At the summer meeting of the Min- 
nesota State Horticultural Society held 
at University farm, St. Paul, Minn., 
one of the striking features was the 
Peony display. D. W. C. Ruff, of St. 
Paul, captured all of the prizes in the 
Peony section having one of the finest 
exhibits ever entered at the state show. 
All blooms from the exhibition were 
afterwards sent to St. Paul hospitals. 
Red Cross workers were furnished 
with hundreds of bouquets which were 
not entered in the exhibition, and the 
sale from same totaled about $100 
which was divided between the St. 
Paul and Minneapolis Red Cross chap- 
ters. 
The sale of flowers for the benefit of 
Red Cross, which idea was started by 
The Flower Grower some months ago 
seems to have been widely adopted as 
a means of raising money for Red 
Cross purposes, and we are pleased to 
know that we have been instrumental 
in so great a work. 
August, 1918 
The Glad Philosopher’s 
| Musings. I 
" Say it with flowers,” is the slogan 
of the flower shop advertisement, and 
in this brief, catchy sentence is much 
philosophy boiled down. When we 
are saying it with flowers our perfume- 
laden blossoms are conveying mes- 
sages of affection or sympathy, 
speaking a language of the heart— a 
language that can express no bitter 
word or unkind thought. When we 
say it with flowers, we speak in kindly 
voice with never a trace of impatience 
or harshness. Let us always, there- 
fore, "say it with flowers.” 
How significant the fact that there 
are far more white flowers than of any 
other color, and not any that are ab- 
solutely and totally black. According 
to Darwin, a far greater proportion of 
our fragrant flowers are white. Love, 
joy, purity, hope, sympathy, etc., may 
be fittingly expressed with flowers, but 
never anger or despair. 
The Glad Philosopher recently asked 
a friend, "Haven’t you a war garden 
this year?” "No,” replied the friend, "I 
haven’t time for it, I’m playing golf 
now every afternoon. Don’t you play 
golf?” he inquired. "No, I haven’t 
time,” the G. P. replied, "I have a war 
garden.” 
Judging by the elaboration and de- 
tail of the published statements of their 
transactions, I can’t see where some of 
the cost — system accountants of the 
war garden get time enough left from 
their bookkeeping to do very much 
real gardening. 
I’d rather be a make-good know- 
nothing than a never-make-good know- 
it-all. 
Work hard and then take a vacation. 
It is nature’s plan that work and rest 
should follow each other in succession, 
as witnessed in the alternate periods 
of growth and dormancy of our peren- 
nial plants. 
While I was out weeding my flower 
beds one Sunday afternoon recently, 
my neighbor and his family drove by 
in their automobile. Little regard for 
the Sabbath these automobilists have 
now-a-days, I’ll say ! 
The Glad Philosopher. 
Flowers— An Appreciation. 
[Continued from page 81.] 
or water flows, or birds fly, wherever 
day and night meet in twilight, wher- 
ever the blue heaven is hung by 
clouds, or sown by stars, wherever is 
danger, and awe, and love, there is 
Beauty, plenteous as rain, shed for 
thee, and though thou shouldst walk 
the world over, thou shalt not be able 
to find a condition inopportune or igno- 
ble.” 
