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best. Something’ wrong with the grower who, with a 
selection of the above, or of other good ones, cannot 
clear at least ten thousand dollars per acre yearly. 
Nothing like gladioli as a side issue. Combine the 
best methods of growing with good judgment in the 
selection of varieties, and that side issue will more than 
double with each passing year, till lo and behold, it 
becomes the main issue,—a real business in which there 
is profit and pleasure but little dreamed of before. 
ROTATION CROPS 
Annual crops are best if not grown in succession on 
the same soil. This is especially true of gladioli. 
In a climate such as ours in the Willamette Valley, 
Oregon, where the soil does not freeze during the 
winter to a sufficient depth to kill the bulblets which 
may remain in the ground after digging, it is quite 
impossible to free the soil of these bulblets and they 
will be there to mix with any future plantings. They 
will form small bulbs even if the tops are cut off and 
some will form bulbs without making any tops at all. 
Some may lie dormant for several years and then 
grow. This makes it impossible to save bulblets again 
on the same soil with any certainty that they are pure. 
We should avoid mixtures as we would avoid the plague. 
Hence we must grow the higher-priced varieties on new 
soil each year. 
Then, too, they are more apt to become diseased if 
grown too often on the same soil and the soil will be¬ 
come depleted of the elements required for the best 
growth. 
So it becomes quite a problem with the gladiolus 
grower as to how he can best use the ground again. 
