DEPENDABLE GLADS 
25 
SOME INSECT ENEMIES 
There are very few insect pests that have a taste for Glads. Most bugs make 
a meal off of Glads only when other sources of foods are scarce. The damage from 
these is only incidental. Included in this group of pests is the cow and the bunny. 
The bunny does the lesser damage because when the tender Glad shoots are cut off 
others will come up, while the cow usually pulls them up by the roots. 
Black Aster-beetle. This bug is a half-inch long, the most common variety of 
a uniform black color, not very active but can fly, usually drops to the ground when 
disturbed, and plays ‘possum’. It feeds on the flowers of all plants in late summer. 
An effective remedy is a poison spray, such as arsenate of lead, on the open blooms, 
if you wish to save the remaining crop of spikes. No harm is ever done to leaf or 
bulb. 
Wireworm. A slender, orange colored, smooth worm about an inch long. It 
bores a hole to the heart of the young plant just above the bulb, completely destroy¬ 
ing it. It infests old meadows and pastures. The only practical remedy is to grow 
your Glads on ground that has had a cultivated crop the past year or two. 
White grub. These are the larvae of the June-bug, or May-beetle, white, and 
about the size of a moth-ball. They feed on the husk of the bulb and also the roots. 
There is no effective remedy except to let a drove of hogs without rings in their noses 
have free play in your field the season before you wish to plant there. Sod ground 
seems to contain more grubs than a field that has been under cultivation. 
Borers. Sometimes, but very rarely, the European Corn Borer larva will burrow 
in the stem of the Glad. Also the common stalk-borer, or Corn-Ear Worm. The only 
way to combat these borers is to burn all trash, a pretty good practice for all insects 
and diseases. 
Cutworm. The nocturnal larva of the owlet moth sometimes cuts off the young 
Glads at the surface of the ground, or just beneath it. There is no particular dam¬ 
age, as the Glad comes on again, and as the season advances these worms cease their 
activities. 
Grasshoppers. A real plague out here in the West sometimes. Your Glads next 
to a meadow or a grain field or a right of way will be mowed off clear to the ground 
if you do not feed the hoppers generously with poisoned bran at frequent intervals. 
THE PASSING OF THE OLD TIMERS 
The trade reports of the past season from the various flower markets, while 
emphasizing the fact that Glads are the stand-bys, quite frequently commented on 
the high quality of the Glads that came to market, in spite of a rather difficult season. 
This increasingly high quality of the cut Glads in these markets is due to the greater 
proportions of the newer and finer varieties. With the advent of the newer kinds 
in increasing quantities, there is no room left for the older varieties. The 
restricted demand of the depression has also helped to crowd them out never to re¬ 
turn. Buyers of Glad blooms are seeking better and better quality, and are willing to 
pay for it. The Halleys, Kings, and Shaylors are gradually giving way to the Phipps, 
Bennetts, and Nuthalls, and the grower who clings to the older kinds is finding him¬ 
self a has-been. 
DO GLADS CHANGE COLOR? 
This question is often asked. Most decidedly no. The bulblets around the roots 
develop into bulbs whose blooms remain true in color to the mother bulb year after 
year indefinitely. The occasional sport is an exception, but these sports are so ex¬ 
tremely rare, that they would never turn up in one garden out a hundred. What 
causes this confusion is the fact that some varieties are much stronger and more pro¬ 
lific than others, and it is these that in time crowd the others out, and your plot of 
Glads in a few years will become all of one or two kinds. 
DO VARIETIES CHANGE? 
Of course, varieties differ in their ability to resist hot and dry conditions. The 
change is so marked in many cases that one is put to it to recognize the varieties, 
even though there is a general resemblance. But as soon as moisture and coolness 
are restored tney return to their original glory. Bulbs grown under hard conditions 
do specially well in a gentle climate. 
