The Garden Magazine, October, 1923 
107 
Spiderwort; also Zinnia, Calendula, Cosmos, Portulaca, Alyssum, 
Nasturtiums, Asters, etc. Flower gardening is an uphill game out 
here, but the recompense is greater on that account. 
Replying to the correspondent, S. C. Taylor, S. D., in the same issue 
would say that we do have many flower lovers in eastern Montana— 
people who think of other things than wheat and live stock. Crop 
failures have made hard sledding for many of them, but I have seen 
quite a few attempts to have flowers around the homestead shanty and 
more than one sod house that was brightened with Geraniums set in 
the window.—F. Damkoehler, Terry, Montana. 
Labeling Gladiolus and Harvesting the Bulbs 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
WOPPING experiences is indeed a pleasant part of gardening. 
The effort that went into “A Glad Soliloquy” (page 127, April, 
1923) has been amply repaid by the friendly correspondence it has 
produced for me. Through it I learned my old friend Harry Claybaugh 
had been bitten by the same “glad bug” that inoculated me and has a 
rather remarkable collection. From him I learned that even such 
skillful growers as the Kunderds sometimes have difficulties with 
systems for marking the different varieties. Harry writes me: “Bob 
Kunderd wrote me those two varieties had been lost, or the labels had 
been lost and he could not send them out this year.” Of course grow¬ 
ing so many varieties their marking problem is that of the average 
grower multiplied many times. 
I plant in straight rows, only one bulb wide. The rows run north 
and south. To mark the varieties I use either four- or six-inch wooden 
labels, purchased at the seed store. In the plot north of the house 1 
stick the label south of the bulb or bulbs it marks. In the plot south 
of the house the label goes in north of the bulb. Always the label is 
toward the house so no one forgets which bulb it marks. 
At digging time the bulbs and labels of each kind are piled together. 
After the bulbs are cured and the stalks removed flats from the green¬ 
house hold the varieties separate. If there are only a few bulbs of any 
variety an old cigar box with the lid torn off does very well. 1 mark 
the variety on the box and drop a label or two into the box with the 
bulbs to make sure. 
In the spring, when the flats are needed again for seeds and plants, 
the “glads” are transferred to paper bags, but I do not like to store 
them all winter so deep as that. They seem to keep better stored in 
layers only two or three inches deep. 
Planting in rows has another advantage oesides simplifying the 
marking. I drive a stout stake at each end of the row and one every 
fifteen feet in the row; the tops about eighteen inches above ground. 
One wire is stretched along each side of the row and nailed to the tops 
of the stakes. Inside of the end stakes and in either side of the inter¬ 
vening stakes, a little block of wood three inches long is slipped between 
the wires to hold them apart and prevent them from pinching the 
stalks. A cheap iron wire, “egg crate” or “stove pipe wire,” answers 
the purpose and will last out one season, and twenty-five cents’ worth 
has been enough for eleven sixty-foot rows. This is inconspicuous, 
easily built, ample support, and it obviates tying individual stalks. 
No matter how careful 1 am with ihe marking, every season there 
are some bulbs in accidental mixture. These I sort as they bloom by 
placing a label to each bulb. To the varieties which appear in larger 
proportions in the mixture, I assign numbers. This speeds up the 
writing of the labels and permits using 4-inch labels; most names re¬ 
quire the 6-inch size.— Robert R. Lewis, Penna. 
Getting Plants True to Name 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
N THE catalogue of one of our specialists in choice hardy plants 
(Wolcott Nurseries) there is the statement that the price for single 
plants has been raised to discourage the use of one plant of a variety;and 
to encourage the use of plants in larger quantities they offer three plants 
of a variety at dozen rates. We quite agree with them that the plant¬ 
ing of one plant each of many varieties is fatal to the good effect of any 
garden, and gives no proper opportunity to study the plant. Yet when 
these choice plants cost from 50 cents to $1.00 each more care should 
be taken by dealers to send out plants true to name. The blanket dis- 
THE APPARENTLY CAPRICIOUS BUT STILL UBIQUITOUS HYDRANGEA 
Variously blue or pink flowers, at times both on the same plant, have worried a good many gardeners, and now it would seem 
that the answer lies in relative acidity of the soil—lime assures pink blooms (see opposite page). Variety otaska shown above 
