4 
HORNBERGER’S HOME AND GARDEN SERVICE 
a few years I can reap a rich harvest of profits and by the time the grapevine method of 
transmitting information has become fully operative, then there will be more new varie 
ties that have received Awards for value of the bloom alone. iSolveig was fudged and 
rated at Cleveland by some of the ablest commercial judges in our country; they knew 
Glads from A to Z, and they knew their commercials, but they did not know how Sol- 
veig would propagate, and this is what we must know before we advertise a new variety 
as a VARIETY OF COMMERCIAL MERIT. We must do this to secure the respect our 
business should merit at all times, because I consider our friends who love flowers as per¬ 
sons having the very highest ideals, and after all what is the true American ideal? Is it 
not Fair Play? And I may ask, is it fair play to sell a man, who must propagate under 
average conditions, a variety that has been rated as a good commercial, but which will 
propagate so slowly, that it is of no practical value in his business, and he invested his 
money for high priced bulbs believing he was going to get a start with something of high 
value and use in his business. 
There is a good outlet for all fine varieties that propagate too slowly to be of com¬ 
mercial value regardless of the commercial value of their flowers, and that is to the “Fan” 
and the individuals who want a few of many kinds and who do not care if they propagate 
slow or fast, but if an honest censorship of all advertising* confined them where they be¬ 
longed they may not prove quite so profitable. 
The foregoing is our general explanation of our plan. We will give more details in 
future issues of our catalog, and we ,will issue mimeographed instruction and information 
sheets as often as may be required, all depending on the amount of response this season 
to this plan. 
Here is a general outline of my plan. We must never approve of the use of large 
bulbs of uncertain age as a basis' on which to establish any test. Unless we begin with 
the right kind of stock, we can not hope for results of much worth. We can not secure 
dependable data on such foundations. The average dozen No. 1 bulbs that we may re¬ 
ceive from any state or section of the country will be first of uncertain age, .and next they 
will not be acclimatized to your test garden conditions. I will hazard a guess and say 
that unless the grower of the large bulbs you may purchase from any section has kept 
special records of his sizes and varieties, then it is safe to assume that the average 12 
large bulbs will consist in many instances of bulbs from one to two and up to four to 
five years old when received. If you grow these bulbs one year to acclimatize them, and 
I think that only fair to give the variety an even chance to show what it can do, and then 
if 7 /ou intended to give these bulbs a three year’s test, many would seem to be very old 
bulbs befclre the test was finished. My idea of the right way to start a test that can be 
regarded as having some scientific value, is to use 20 to 50 or even 100 bulbs of a size. 
HOW TO PROCEED: First send your written request to be listed as a “Co-Operator”; 
we Will then enter your name on our records. Tell us how many tests you will conduct 
in 1937, and we will send you two rating cards for each test youu make; because you fill 
out TWO CARDS for every single test made; one card you keep, and at the end of the 
season you mail its duplicate card, which we file here in the office. These cards a.re 4x6 
inch Card Index filing cards, printed on both sides, and all that is required is to make 
notations on these cards at the proper time all through the various stages of your tests 
each season. 
There will be two classes of testing; first, and perhaps the most used, will be INDE¬ 
PENDENT TESTS. In these tests you proceed on your own iniative, and test and rate 
anything you wish; any new named varieties or any seedlings of your own or others. 
However, do not rate any ordinary seedlings; it is not worth while; only rate such seed¬ 
lings as seem to you to be in a class with a possibility of a future if ,such variety were 
to be named. While you make your own selection in this test, nevertheless, you send us 
a DUPLICATE CARD of EVERY TEST MADE. All this will be required if we are to 
have future data of real value. We supply each year, two cards for each test made; one 
for our office and the other for your own files. In so far as possible, you bring the bloom 
«f the best commercial prospects to the attention of your local florist, retail or whole¬ 
sale. There will be space provided on these .cards for the opinion of your florists for all 
three seasons you test any variety. In other words, you make an effort to secure your 
•florists’ opinion of any one test for each of the three reasons the test is in progress. 
That will give you your florists’ idea, not alone in any one season, but in three seasons. 
It will require a total of six (6) cards to complete a three year test of any ONE variety. 
GROUP TESTS: These will be where several “Co-Operators” agree to test the same 
identical variety at a specified time. For example, if you had a new, named variety, 
