A famous grower says he thinks that glads make their embryo spike about 
the time they are putting out their fourth or fifth leaf. If this is so that is the 
time they should have plenty of water and fertilizer and as good growing conditions 
as possible. Then give them plenty of water as they come into Moom. 
Do not judge a variety from only one bulb or from one year’s trial. Occasionally 
a nice looking bulb for some reason does not produce a good bloom though ordinarily 
the variety is good. Sometimes bulbs have to be acclimated and do better the sec¬ 
ond year. 
Many people ask me if glads will grow in their locality. They certainly will 
if they have at least half a chance. Glads will grow successfully most all over the 
world from Alaska to South Africa. Their main requisite is water at various times 
during the season if the ground gets very dry. They need two and a half months 
or more of growing season without severe frosts and will grow in the tropics or 
most anywhere else I have ever heard of and will grow in any kind of soil. 
Many people who have disinfected their bulbs for thrip have been greatly 
disappointed by still having their plants affected with it. The thrip came in from 
some of their neighbors who did not disinfect. So why not try to get your neighbors 
who grow glads to disinfect their bulbs or have a “community soaking,” all get 
together and soak in one place at one time. 
There are always some people who will do nothing in the way of trying to 
avoid thrip. They say it does no good to disinfect. There is nothing mysterious 
about thrip. It is either present or not present and there are just two things to 
do to avoid them, that is to be sure to start with clean bulbs by disinfecting and 
then to spray if necessary. To discover if there are thrip present on young plants 
pull the leaves apart a little and look down between them. If there are any thrip 
on them you can easily tell them. The young ones are yellowish and the adults 
are black, about one-sixteenth of an inch long and as large as a pencil mark. Later 
if thrip are present there will be spots on the leaves which look as if they had been 
rubbed with a file, rather whitish scarified marks. 
The public judges glads by what they see in the flower shops. Often the 
florists have a very inferior quality of glads and a very small selection of varieties. 
This is especially true in the big cities. There are many beautiful varieties much 
finer than what the florists usually carry that the florists never even heard of. 
And many of them are sold at reasonable prices. 
A high price for a variety does not necessarily mean that the variety is better 
than others. It does mean that it is newer and the stock is more limited. When 
a variety is put on the market it is usually priced comparatively high because the 
stock is very small. As the variety increases the price comes down from year to 
year. Of course when a variety is introduced it is supposedly better than other 
varieties but sometimes this does not prove to be the case. I think originators 
mean to put out only superior varieties but sometimes they are not sufficiently 
tested in various parts of the country and so something gets by that should not. 
A buyer should be guided somewhat by the reputation of the hybridizer. 
Do not begrudge the originator a high price for a new variety. I never saw an 
originator of gladiolus who got rich producing new varieties. In the process of 
producing a new outstanding variety there is an enormous amount of work. 
Many thousands of seedlings are grown for each one that is finally put on the 
market. It takes from five to eight years from the time a cross is made until a 
seedling is finally ready to be introduced. Then if the variety happens to take 
the public fancy the hybridizer or the introducer is lucky. But a large share of the 
varieties that are put on the market never become popular. 
What is a seedling? The name seedling may be a misnomer. All varieties are 
raised from seed. Technically a seedling is a variety that has not yet been named. 
It is my opinion that no seedling should be allowed to be shown at a glad 
show until it has bloomed three years. Until the third blooming it may change 
somewhat. It may improve after the first or second blooming but often deteriorates. 
Usually by the time it has bloomed three times or bulblets have bloomed it be- 
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