10 
A. E. KUNDERD, GOSHEN, INDIANA. 
Gr 
A Wonderful New Strain of Gladiolus 
T he late matthew crawford, author of the book of 
“The Gladiolus” (published by Vaughan’s Seed Stores, Chicago 
and New York), whose many years of labor with this flower 
have earned for him the title of “the grand old man of the Gladiolus,” 
after a visit to my former home at Fort Wayne, Ind., wrote his home 
paper, “The Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio) Reporter,” March it, 1910, 
as follows: 
For the Reporter. 
“When visiting my son in Oak Park, Chicago, I decided to return 
via Fort Wayne, Ind., and see my friend, Mr. A. E. Kunderd, who is 
becoming famous as the originator of the new Ruffled Gladioli. I 
reached his place after noon and found him at home. We had met 
before, and have been corresponding for years. He has had some ten 
or more years’ experience with the Gladiolus and I over forty; so we 
had plenty to talk about. In my seventy years I have met many 
specialists, but never one that interested me more than did Mr. Kunderd. 
He is the only man in the world that has produced a Ruffled Gladiolus 
by scientific methods. On Thursday, the second day of my visit, we 
spent most of the day in looking at his stock. As the temperature of 
the cellar is about forty, we had to come up frequently to get warm. 
I saw hundreds of varieties worth more than I would dare to tell. Of 
some there were only two bulbs of a kind, of others a bushel or two, 
and of one some 30,000 of blooming size. Of two-year seedlings of 
blooming size, all from ruffled stock, there are some 25,000, and as 
many of one-year. His standard is high and he burns a great many 
bulbs that some growers would be proud of. Of course, he has many 
fine ones that are not ruffled. One of them is now being sold by an 
Eastern firm at $10.00 a dozen. I have grown some of his ruffled stock 
for two years and am charmed with it. I brought some of it home with 
me so that my friends may see it here. It is immensely more beautiful 
than the plain. We see the ruffled or waved sweet peas superseding 
the plain. We have the pansies and petunias ruffled, and who will' say 
that the daffodil is not more beautiful with its crimped trumpet? How¬ 
ever, I am looking for Ruffled Gladioli to become very popular in spite 
of some envious growers who are trying to belittle them. 
Signed: M. CRAWFORD.” 
