HORNBERGER’S HOME AND GARDEN SERVICE 
2y 
IOLUS.’ ’ The 1936 issue has some 14 pages with illustrations devoted to this one sub¬ 
ject alone, and handled by experts. 
A DISTINCTION 
Where various catalogs mention dipping for disease, as a rule they refer to bo called 
scab. Dr. L. M. Massey, of Cornell College, world famed authority on gladiolus diseases, 
tells us that “dry rot spores” can not be controlled by any disinfectant, and when yon 
plant even one bulb or more with dry rot you will be planting just that many dry rot 
spores in your soil, where they will thrive and grow and multiply for at least five yeairs, 
even though you stop planting Glad, bulbs in that particular soil. “SCAB” is bacterial 
in nature and is not a fungus rot like dry rot, fuscarium, and other diseases of this na 
tore. Scab never causes much trouble where drainage is first class, and on such soil, 
if you will conduct some very simple experments, you wll find that you can take very 
scabby bulbs and plant on say a quick draining gravel soil, without even disinfecting 
them, and I am sure you will harvest all or nearly all the very scabby bulbs you planted 
on such land, even without any treatment. If you use well drained soil, and you seem 
to have many plants rot off, in the growing season, the chances are that your bulbs hard 
both scab and dry rot on one and the same bulb. If you find any plant drying up pre¬ 
maturely in the field, and in particular if the leaves are much streaked and blotched, 
dig up the bulbs with some of the surrounding soil, and burn in hot fire both bulb and 
soil. It is possible to introduce dry rot in your soil. ,Jf you do not know its signs, and 
even if you only have a small amount in your soil, it will infest all clean bulbs that 
eome within contact of these “dry rot spores” which are really microscopic plants which, 
attach themselves to your clean bulbs. 
REMOVE ALL HUSKS OR OUTER COVERINGS 
Before planting your bulbs remove all coverings or husks, unless you have so many 
bulbs as to make this impractical, but even then you should examine all your bulbs so 
carefully that no dry rot spores go unobserved into your clean soil. Be sure to always 
keep every grower’s name attached to your new lots of bulbs that you buy, and remover 
the husk and examine every bulb before you plant them. If you do not know disease*, 
get the N. E. G S. Yearbook for 1936—costs only $1.00, or send to the IT. S. Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and ask for bulletin on gladiolus diseases. If, after 
you study these publications, you still feel uncertain about some one bulb or more then 
send a letter to your Slate Department of Agriculture and ask them where you can send 
your diseased bulbs for expert advice. Watch all the new bulblets you buy, as bulMcts 
are seldom examined like bulbs, as it will require much more labor to give them a care¬ 
ful examination, but it will be worth all the labor involved. 
STEM RUST IN FLORIDA 
This is not a gladiolus disease, however glads become host plants, and in that manner, 
only varieties highly resistant, are of real practical value in many section of Florida, 
where this is most prevalent, among the most resistant are Marnia and Nuthall, however, 
we request all our Florida friends to report to us all new or other varieties, that show 
very high resistance to the rust. 
1936 MINUET PERFORMANCE 
Below, we quote part of a letter from a Pennsylvania customer:— 
Sept. 9. 1936—“I do not have enough Minuet to supply the demand, and would liks 
to add about 5,000 more to my present stock. During the extreme hot weather here when 
the temperature was around 100 or 101 degrees, Minuet was standing up in grand style 
while others were wPtng, including Picardy. Picardy is a good cut flower for the florists’ 
trade, but my customers tell me that I cannot grow too many of Minuet, and they ask 
for them daily as they desire to carry a ?t,ock constantly.’’—O. E. K. 
UNVARNISHED FACTS 
If a grower lists 200 varieties it means from 1400 to 1600 separate items or grades. 
Even if ho has large stocks of many kinds, he can not anticipate how ong 1e can uippty 
stock for al! orders. He can not anticipate whether you will send a $1.00 order or a $10.00 
order, and with so many grades and sizes resulting in so many separate items, it has 
become the practice of growers to purchase verv heavily frem each other. Growers hav¬ 
ing long lists of new varieties are often the LARGEST wholesale customers of other grow¬ 
ers. 
