6 
Hornberger's Home and Garden Service 
The road that leads to our gladiolus exhibitions, is a one way road, with only 
one side visible:—THE EXHIBITION SIDE. 
The judges who judged “Solveig” at Cleveland and awarded it the highest 
honors, were competent judges, but abiding by the rules of the society they could 
reach but one conclusion, and judge each variety as it appeared before them, and 
not on how it performed as a grower and propagator. 
We need some kind of utility rating to be used in our catalogs, that will assist 
all classes of purchasers to make an intelligent selection of their requirements. Both 
Solveig and Minuet are listed among the first fifty (50) varieties that received 
the highest number of votes in the Am. Glad. Society Symposium for the year 1934. 
This fact indicates how “exhibition minded” we have become. I have always been in 
favor of flower exhibitions, but I can see how they may become so one sided, as to 
place all value on show room results alone, and none whatever on propagation, which 
is left largely to the imagination. I think the fact that Solveig received this high vote 
from members of the AGS in 1934 will clearly indicate where “high pressure” ad¬ 
vertising is leading us. There was a time when the AGS represented quite fairly all 
parts of the country. The Am. Glad. Society was organized at Boston, Mass. May 
27, 1910. At that time, with no other glad, society in the field, the AGS then largely 
represented the east and the New England states, but today the situation is entirely 
changed, and the former birth place of the Am. Glad, society is now the annual 
exhibition headquarters of another society that was organized in 19 20, ten years 
after the formation of the AGS. I refer to The New England Gladiolus Society, which 
has now supplanted the AGS in New England. The NEGS is now the largest glad 
society in the world, it is an independent society, that is it is not affiliated with the 
AGS. Our Empire State Society is now also independent. These results leave the 
Am. Glad. Soc. largely controlled by western and mid-western states, the most of their 
sentiment is western, not eastern, and perhaps most of their grower members are 
irrigation growers. 
I have tried to show you that there is a limited class or group of growers, 
mostly by irrigation methods, who desire sensational exhibition quality to be inti¬ 
mately associated with slow and difficult propagation for the very simple reason 
that it confines the profitable propagation of such highly advertised and rated 
glads, that happen to be slow and difficult propagators, to these highly specialized 
growers, who have or can contract the special conditions required for this work. 
The largest group of florists, growers, and flower producers, are located in the 
east, and are mainly non-irrigation growers. The climate here is more adverse, and 
severe, the seasons short, and the temperatures much more variable and change¬ 
able. The conditions that fit in nicely with the western methods can not be dupli¬ 
cated here, except in some unusual environment, such as deep valleys, or sea coast 
locations with water available. 
The AGS Symposium is the combined votes of amateur and grower members. 
It mainly reflects popular exhibition sentiment. However there are many florists 
and growers, un-informed on this matter, who are led to believe that all of these 
varieties, are also supreme in the commercial cut flower field. For that reason, we 
are handling this subject in the interest of the beginner and uninformed grower. 
GARDEN FACTS WORTH DOLLARS 
The facts we publish in these pages will be worth dollars to each and every pur¬ 
chaser of Glads by helping him to select the varieties best adapted to his particular 
soil, climate, culture and requirements. 
A variety may be grown under special soil conditions, and prove a consistent 
winner on the show bench; it may be so highly advertised as a result of its winnings 
that every class of buyer will rush large orders for it without having any definite 
idea of its general performance under both irrigation and non-irrigation culture. 
The results are that many thousands of dollars of hard earned money is spent eacn 
year on new highly advertised Glads of doubtful utility value. 
Over a period of many years, we have found from time to time, growers and 
dealers, who advertise “Superior Strains”. In our experience and investigations 
covering approximately twenty years of intensive experimental work with Glads, 
we have found these “strains” to be mainly advertising effort. It seems the adver¬ 
tiser strains his imagination as we have not been able to find much else in these 
so called “superior strains.” I have in mind advertisements I have read in the last 
year stating that Palmer varieties were a “New Strain of Glads.” I have grown 
Palmer varieties a long time, as well as Pfitzer, Salbach and other originators’ new 
varieties, and I must confess I do not find anything superior about them under our 
soil and climatic conditions of western New York (we have 9 6 soil types in this 
county). We have also grown large acreage in northern New Jersey. Our experience 
