Arthur Cowee : Meadowvale Farms : Berlin, N. Y. 
tightly wrapped in their green coverings when the lower buds show color, and yet the spike may 
be cut then with the certainty that every bud will in due time unfurl its wonderful petals in 
the beauty of full and splendid bloom. 
That I am a Gladiolus enthusiast is due wholly to the flowers themselves. Always I have 
loved flowers, and even when the demands of business on my time were greatest, I managed to 
have my little garden each summer. It was in this that I planted a few bulbs of the modern 
type of Gladioli. The surprise and pleasure which I derived from those first glorious blossoms 
stimulated my interest. The next season 
I planted more. Nothing I had ever 
grown had afforded me so much delight 
or had given me such rich returns for the 
little care and labor expended. As the 
bulbs multiplied, I presently found that I 
had more than I had garden-room for, or 
that I had time to plant. I gave them to 
my neighbors; strangers who had seen 
my Gladioli in bloom sought to buy bulbs; 
so, little by little, I was led to increase my 
plantings, until finally I gave up all other 
business and devoted myself wholly to the 
growing of Gladioli bulbs. 
From this small beginning have grown 
my Meadowvale Farms, where every 
year more than a hundred acres are 
devoted to this one flower, and where the 
welcome visitor in the season of bloom 
may see it in distinct varieties which run 
far into the thousands—such a riot of 
color and beauty as must be seen to be 
even dimly appreciated. I have grown 
there more than 25,000 varieties, and 
each succeeding season sees hundreds of 
new ones added. During the season not 
a day passes that I do not discover new 
color phases wholly different from any 
hitherto known, every one of which may 
be perpetuated if I so desire. Of course, 
comparatively few of these are selected 
for this purpose; only the most perfect 
in form and distinctive in color markings 
are deemed worthy to be named and 
given a place in my collection; but this 
ability to produce new and surprising 
color combinations, any one of which, by propagating from the bulb, may become fixed and 
established as a variety, makes one of the charms of the Gladiolus. No other flower possesses 
it in anywhere near a like degree. The securing of these wonderful seedlings has not been by 
chance but by careful selection of parent plants and scientific hybridizing covering a period of 
many years in which patience and experience have been freely exercised. 
But while I grow Gladioli blossoms literally by the millions, they are only incidental to my 
real business, which is the growing of bulbs that others may grow the flowers. It is in the brown- 
husked bulbs that the secret of success with Gladioli lies locked. Given every condition for 
growth as favorable as possible, the soft, weak bulb, although it may be large, will produce 
only the most unsatisfactory results; on the other hand, a firm, strong, healthy bulb will, even 
under the most adverse conditions, throw up a vigorous, sturdy plant, followed by a flower- 
spike heavy with large, perfect blossoms. Not quite all but far and away the largest part of 
success with Gladioli lies in the bulbs. If the latter are what they should be you cannot fail 
Gladioli are superb for a garden border, for their long spikes 
are dressed in sunset tints 
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