Hornberger's Home and Garden Service 
10 
of usefulness, while its waste tends to rapid decline. We have produced exhibition 
spikes from bulbs over five years old that were equal to the same variety bulbs one to 
two years old. Producing too much seed from your plants saps vitality; fruit trees 
that die as a result of overbearing one year, do not do so as a result of producing 
fruit pulp, but to the abnormal amount of seed they produce; cutting away all or 
nearly all the foliage at flowering time, causes poor corm development, overfeeding 
and starvation both are evils to be avoided, excessive feeding requires excessive 
watering to make the extra plant food available, forced growth of plants does not 
tend to highest quality bulbs, buc such forcing does tend to more excessive top 
growth, often resulting in more exceptional flowers. 
SIZE TO PURCHASE 
All sizes flower, even in sections where season is more short and severe the 
larger bulbs tend to produce the longest and most heavy spikes as well as larger 
bloom. While the smaller bulbs bloom, they require a longer time to produce a spike 
and the spike will be smaller compared to spikes grown from larger size bulbs. 
Exhibition sizes are supposed to be # 1-2 sizes, but a surprising amount of exhi¬ 
bition bloom is produced from #3. The #3 size is the most popular size for all 
around utility. It will often produce spikes equal to first size of the same variety, 
and varieties that produce long and medium spikes will produce under fair culture, 
A-l spikes for the florist trade from a # 3 size. Even # 4 give first class spikes in 
this group. 
Millions of spikes of Glads are sold annually that are grown from # 5 size 
Pulbs and sometimes # 6 sizes. 
Sizes # 4-5-6 as a rule are bulbs grown from bulblets, as well as a large portion 
of the # 3 size are bulblet grown, ie. in particular in some varieties like Picardy 
where even here in the east we get many # 2-3 from bulblets even without irrigation 
methods. But I think # 3 are largely composed of stock grown both from bulblets 
and #6 bulbs, which are just as good as bulblet grown #3 sizes. 
Young, first year bulbs produce the largest increase of bulblets, and this will 
include the # 3 grown from a #6, as a #6 size has practically as much stored energy 
us bulblets have. 
DISEASES OF THE GLADIOLUS 
The most troublesome and perhaps of greatest economic importance are scab. 
Dry rot and Hard rot, with Fusarium rot also causing some percentage of loss. 
“Scab” is bacterial in nature, and is not a storage disease at all, but only 
troublesome with growing plants. Scab does not increase in storage although 
remaining dormant on the bulbs. On gravel soils or loose soils with gravel subsoils 
there is seldom much loss from scabby bulbs. I know a very successful grower of 
■cut flowers who has used the same land for approximately 15 years with practically 
no rotations. His bulbs have always been very scabby, but he does not sell bulbs, 
only flowers, his flowers are among the best, and I have failed to detect where he has 
any more loss from this cause than the most careful grower. In our experimental 
work, we have proven that there is little if any serious trouble from a moderate 
amount of scab when bulbs are grown on well drained soils, but the same class bulbs 
when planted on heavy, slow draining soils often results in their loss. I do not think 
there is a planting, large or small, in any place where Glads are grown that is entirely 
free; although such claims are often made, we have never found them true. Dr. 
Miles states that scab may remain virulent in the soil for at least one year, and 
suggests rotation of crop. 
“Dry rot,” Hard rot and Fusarium rot are fungus in nature, and providing con¬ 
ditions are favorable advance as rapidly among stored bulbs as it does on the bulbs 
of growing plants. The fungus rots are by far the most serious. Dr. L. M. Massey 
of Cornell is perhaps the foremost authority on Glad diseases in the country, as far 
back as 1912 he was considered an authority on this subject. He has stated that 
dry rot can remain in your soil at least 5 years although no Glads are grown in this 
soil in the intervening time. 
STORAGE ROTS: These need not necessarily be infectious in nature. Some 
Glads have very tender flesh and skins that bruise easily, and often such bulbs start 
to rot from this bruise, or even frosted surface or spot under favorable conditions, 
and this kind of rot will continue and destroy the entire bulb unless you “amputate” 
that is take a knife and cut away the damaged tissue, down to clean tissue. Sprinkle 
with sulphur and dry surface well before placing back in storage. The sulphur may be 
omitted if cut is well dried. Then again there are some varieties that no matter 
what you do, you are likely to have some loss of bulbs in storage. Good examples 
are Heavenly Blue and Jane Addams. 
