A GLADIOLUS "CHRONICLE 
CLARISSA KELSEY MILLER 
Successive Bloom which Brightens the Month of July 
and Selected Varieties for the Everyday Garden 
^ST year my Gladiolus planting numbered about ten 
thousand corms of blooming size besides a great many 
bulblets, seedlings and seeds. And never has growth 
been sturdier or flowers more beautiful, the long drought 
and heat having been combated effectually with irrigation and 
frequent cultivation. 
I believe in planting early, but a late spring delayed matters 
somewhat the past season so that the ground was not in suitable 
condition until the last week in April. By planting the Gladio¬ 
lus early they bloom early and have gone when the Dahlias 
require my attention. Also, I do not make successive plantings: 
but by using corms of various sizes a long season of bloom is 
secured. 
The ground is well prepared the previous fall and enriched 
with coarse bonemeal and stable fertilizer. In spring it is only 
necessary to have it spaded deeply, pulverized, and laid out in 
straight trenches five inches deep. The corms are laid in the 
bottom, two or three abreast for the larger sizes, and four for the 
smaller, with three inches of space between them. This space is 
ample unless giant flowers for exhibition are desired, for the 
Gladiolus has a comparatively restricted root system and my 
spikes, often five feet high with flowers five or six inches across, 
prove that there is no undue crowding. 
The growing plants must be well cultivated and supplied 
frequently with water. Stakes four feet high are placed fifteen 
feet apart along each side of the rows and strong twine is used 
to keep the plants from filling the eighteen-inch spaces be¬ 
tween rows. They should not be tied too tightly, and the last 
line may be about three feet above the ground allowing the 
spikes to bend outward somewhat, and preventing crowded, 
deformed flowers. When they are a foot high they are given 
a generous top-dressing of equal parts of weight of portland 
cement* and pulverized sheep manure. 
T HE first variety to bloom was Willbrink, pink, large and 
beautiful and especially desirable on account of its earliness. 
Halley followed five days later; with Prince of Wales and 
1910 Rose sharing honors the following day. Both the latter 
are good. 
Dorothy McKibbon, a very good, ruffled pink opened 
July 13th, as did The Pearl— not so good. On the 14th 1 
found Prophetesse and Thoth, both splendid varieties and 
well worth growing. And on the 15th Mary Fennell, added a 
welcome touch of delicate lavender to the collection; the next 
day brought forth Anna Eberius, Yeoman, America, Panama, 
and Cattleya, with Mary Pickford, Mrs. Dr. Norton, 
White Giant and Helen Franklin showing their first flowers 
on the 17th. The first named and the last four are especially 
good. 
Only two new faces were added to the list next day; Bur¬ 
bank's Pinnacle —a very large, beautiful pink, and American 
*The use of portland cement has also been recommended by other Gladiolus 
growers and appears in the cultural directions in a catalog of one of California's 
specialists. Any advantage that may be derived must be due to the fact that 
a certain amount of lime in the cement becomes soluble upon addition of water. 
The Atlas Portland Cement Company states that “the stack dusts from the 
stacks connected with the rotary kilns. . . is being used in California as 
there is a small amount of potash in this dust . . . There is but a slight 
amount of potash in the finished portland cement and hardly a trace of phos¬ 
phoric acid, and of course, no nitrogen.”— Editor. 
THREE GLADIOLUS OF DISTINCTION 
Mrs. H. E. Bothin (left) an arresting ruffled beauty of pink with flaming scarlet throat; Pinnacle (center) a 
very large, beautiful pink; Kunderd’s Glory (right), pleasing creamy apricot with light tint of pink and fine 
markings of red on lower petals, a pioneer among the ruffled types and the parent of many recent varieties 
