older varieties have magenta lines in the throat. If these lines were out and the 
throat had a perfectly clear color the variety would be very much more beautiful. 
Also if the flower has more than one color these colors should harmonize and blend 
well together and not fight as the colors do in many varieties. This is one char¬ 
acteristic of Palmer’s varieties, that they mostly have clear throats without these 
objectionable lines and the colors are either perfectly ,clear or harmonize and 
blend well. 
Then again some varieties have raised fjmidribs often of a whitish or lighter 
shade which makes the flower more beautiful. If you would secure a set of the 
Palmer varieties and would study them in comparison with the ordinary run of 
glads you would get an idea of what real beauty is. I don’t mean to say that there 
aren’t lots of beautiful varieties on the market besides the Palmer strain but 
most of his do have a few points about them in the line of beauty of both form 
and color that distinguishes them from other kinds. STUDY YOUR FLOWERS 
AND GET BEAUTY CONSCIOUS. 
Flowers for Identification 
In spite of the fact that last year I mentioned in my catalog something about 
sending flowers for identification and that they should always be sent in the bud 
I received many blooms this past summer 
that were shipped when fully open. In 
practically every case of this kind the color 
is out of the flowers when I receive them and 
it is absolutely impossible to identify them. 
Always when sending flowers for me to 
identify send them when the buds are 
showing color but not nearly opened out. 
They will arrive then in good shape and I 
may be able to tell what they are. But 
when they are shipped in full bloom they 
are either faded out, dried up or decayed 
on arrival. 
Donations to Shows 
We are always glad to help out local 
shows by donating bulbs for prizes. How¬ 
ever we wish that some of the show com¬ 
mittees would cooperate with us a little 
more. We usually offer definite varieties 
as prizes but sometimes the show com¬ 
mittees list them on their schedules as just 
so many bulbs without naming the varieties 
or sometimes not the values so that it 
often makes us trouble in satisfying the 
winner of the prize and makes a lot of 
extra work in our office. 
The winner of the prize should send 
postage for the bulbs. An innovation that 
one or two shows started last year helps 
out the grower a good deal. This is in ask¬ 
ing the winners of the prizes to send in an 
order for at least the same value of the prize 
they won. We don’t ask that but too many 
times in the past a person wins a prize, 
gets his bulbs and never buys a thing of us 
or even thanks us. Can’t understand it. 
What Makes Price? 
The gladiolus business is one thing in which price is usually determined by 
supply and demand. When a new variety is put on the market the price is usually 
made according to the supply available and the value that the introducer puts 
upon it. Usually the supply of a new variety is small. In the case of the Palmer 
varieties the supply is extremely small when they are introduced. Occasionally 
an introducer works up a larger supply andjputs the variety out at a lower price. 
5 
Picardy , 5 ft. 6 in. tall 
from No. 2 bulbs grown by 
C. G. Young. Wisconsin 
