28 
A. E. KUNDERD, GOSHEN, INDIANA. 
New Strains of Gladiolus 
* I HE following article was published in “Horticulture”, London, 
March 6, 1915, and sent us by an English correspondent. The 
item was sent them from New York by the late Mr. J. Harrison Dick, 
editor of “The Florists’ Exchange.” Mr. Dick was for years one of the 
leading horticultural authorities in England before coming to America. 
His “Garden Guide”, specially written for the amateur, is one of the 
finest, best illustrated and most valuable books ever written and in¬ 
valuable to every grower of a garden. 
“Any one looking at the illustration of the Ruffled Gladiolus that 
accompanies these notes will admit that this latest evolution adds a new 
feature to the flowers of this genus. This ruffling marks a further ad¬ 
vance from the types with which the breeders started. First there was 
the making of the Gandavensis race by the efforts of Dean Herbert and 
Louis Van Houtte, the varieties of which were much improved by James 
Kelway, Sen., who worked on M.. Souchet’s earlier products. Souchet 
was gardener at Fontainebleau in the thirties of last century. Whilst 
Kelway was busy on the Gandavensis varieties, M. Victor Lemoine, of 
Nancy, was developing his Lemoinei strain, which he got out of G.'pur- 
pureo-auratus and the finer varieties of Gandavensis. By using some 
of the finer blotched varieties from his Lemoinei group on G. Saundersn, 
the Nancy florist obtained also the well-known Nanceianus forms of 
Gladioli. 
“Beginning upon selections of the strongest and most vigorous of 
these several groups, now nearly twenty years ago, Mr. A. E. Kunderd, 
Goshen, Indiana, U. S. A., has succeeded in getting the ruffled or 
Kunderdn type, of which the flowers here shown as examples. It would 
appear that the superlative vigor of the corms and constitution of these 
Gladioli has found expression in the convoluting of the perianth seg¬ 
ments, and that this wavy type of petal is attractive and charming will 
probably be admitted by those who appreciate grace as well as richness 
and strength in these flowers. There is nothing lost—neither size, sub¬ 
stance nor color, but an added feature is given and is fixed. He has 
also got the ruffling on G. primuhnus hybrids. Mr. Kunderd is a florist 
of the best type, quite one of the old-fashioned kind, full of a love of 
his flowers and immersed in his work. He is the raiser of some of the 
best Gladioli in America today, including ‘Mrs. Frank Pendleton’ and 
‘Chicago White’. His family now acts with him in his business, and it 
is to be hoped that he will, after these many years, reap a satisfactory 
reward from his patient labors. 
“Signed: J. HARRISON DICK, New York.” 
