WHEN IS A GLADIOLUS MATURE? 
j. Horace McFarland 
Author of “Walks and Talks at Breeze Hill” (Garden Magazine), “Roses and How To Grow Them,” etc. 
|N MIDSUMMER we regretfully desert Breeze Hill for 
a few weeks at our other home, Bide-a-Wee, in the 
heart of the Pennsylvania Alleghanies, close to Eagles 
Mere, the loveliest little lake in America. Though we 
are really in the fringe of a magnificent primeval forest and in a 
climate enthusiastically described as “nine months winter and 
three months late in the fall” there are (lowers, both wild and 
cultivated, those particularly flourishing that enjoy cool nights. 
I most relish my own “front-yard” of Ferns and Bergamot, 
flanked by great Laurels and a superb plant of Viburnum cas- 
sinoides, and brightened by the continually flowering Rubus 
odoratus. 
My neighbor at the other end of the lake, Mr. Hooper, has 
an Apple orchard, and has also been growing fine Gladiolus for 
several years. One August day his daughter entrusted to me 
for transmission to Mrs. McFarland a dozen great spikes of 
America. It is the story of these that has prompted the in¬ 
quiry at the head of this item. 
“We no longer cut Gladiolus” said Mr. Hooper. “We sim¬ 
ply pull them up when the first flower is open, then comfortably 
trim off the bulb, which is at once cleaned and stored for 
next year. We find that three months in the ground is enough 
to mature the flower and the bulb.” 
To my astonished remonstrance as to the presumed necessity 
for “ripening” the bulb, Mr. Hooper replied by pointing to the 
superb America spikes 1 held, telling me that they had been 
grown from bulbs so treated last year. I examined these fine 
spikes closely. There were several flowers four inches across, 
and none under three. The spikes ran from twelve to fif¬ 
teen inches net, with none carrying less than twelve flowers. 
The foliage was fine and full, and the stalks heavy and 
firm. The soil in which these bulbs made these flowers is 
not rich, being stony mountain ground, farmed for a few 
years. It is a red sandstone base that has slowly broken up 
into arable land. 
Is the insisted necessity of maturing the Gladiolus bulbs 
until the foliage dies down just another tradition, accepted 
without consideration or contest, like the ultra-deep preparation 
of the ground for Roses which 1 have dared to neglect? 
Who knows? 1 expect to try for myself at Breeze Hill, and 1 
will then know more. It would be much of a garden relief if I 
need not coddle the plants of “Glads” that have been cut. 
Common sense indicates that when the old bulb has matured 
its flower the new bulb might well be also matured. But last 
year some of Mr. Kunderd’s fine sorts bloomed in less than two 
months, for I cut a spike of his lovely Dr. Van Fleet on August 
first from a bulb planted June eighth. Is that bulb matured? 
Let us experiment! 
PRIZE POEM COMPETITION 
^rHROUCH the generosity of Mrs. Charles H. Stout, The Garden Magazine is privileged to announce the offer of a $50 cash 
pri{e to be awarded for a new and original poem on the Dahlia. Perse submitted in this competition must be of joyous mood 
in any lyric form, but not exceeding six stanzas in length. Competition closes October 1st, 1924, and all entries must reach The 
Garden Magazine not later than that day. Contestants may submit any number of entries, with the name and address of the author 
plainly marked on each one, addressing them to the Dahlia Poem Contest, % Editors of The Garden Magazine, Garden City, N. Y 
Grape vines and climbing Pink Roses are rapidly clothing the pergola with color and shade, and the flowerbeds in front are planned for a summer series of 
flower pictures in tints of rose and lavender beginning with early Tulips and ending with hardy Chrysanthemums. Iris, Peonies, Ageratum, Zinnias, and Pe¬ 
tunias also bloom generously here in the garden of Dr. and Mrs. John Hamilton at Cedar Rapids. “The plan”, Mrs. Hamilton writes, “we have gradually 
worked out for ourselves and we have certainly enjoyed it. The picture is taken from the terrace of the house with broad steps leading down to it, on 
either side of which in the spring Daffodils bloom in profusion. I he pride of the garden is the pool with its bronze fountain by Raoul Larch of Paris” 
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