conies more or less settled and we can usually judge a variety at that time. But 
often first or second year seedlings are shown at some of the shows and are extra 
fine and the public gets stirred up about them and they get a lot of publicity but 
before there is stock enough for introduction they pass out of the picture for some 
reason or other and are never heard from again. 
We sell a book Gladiolus Breeding for 55 cents that gives the mechanical 
methods of hybridizing but no book nor any person can tell you which varieties 
to cross to produce outstanding seedlings. You have to try them out for yourself. 
It takes a lot of thought and also luck to produce outstanding varieties. The 
cross of Apricot Glow x Emile Aubrun, which produced Picardy, has probably 
been made more times than any other cross in the history of hybridizing. Though 
a few other good varieties have come from this cross there has been only one 
Picardy. 
I might say that Picardy makes a very good parent and seems to nick well 
with many other varieties. Most every hybridizer in the world is using Picardy 
now as one parent but of course there are plenty of other varieties that are valuable 
in hybridizing too. You just have to try the various ones and find out. The number 
of crosses that can be made with good parents is infinite. 
Some people have asked what constitutes a good glad. We all have our 
preferences but of course to be a good judge we have to study and know glads the 
same as we would to be a good judge of horses or anything else. Many like odd 
and bizarre colors and streaked or flaked varieties but these are not generally 
considered beautiful. The varieties having clean pure colors are considered best. 
The older varieties often had magenta or other detracting lines in the throat. 
The Palmer strain derives much of its beauty from clean colors and clear, clean, 
white, cream or yellowish throats with no markings on them whatever and also 
from the beautiful forms and ruffling. 
Be sure bulbs are sound when you plant them. Sometimes when the bulbs 
are shipped in the winter they get frosted. Sometime after arrival they become 
soft and later become hard and dry. If you are not well acquainted with glad 
bulbs and at planting time are uncertain if the bulbs are good or not just put your 
thumbnail into the bulb and if it is in good shape the flesh will be live like a potato 
but if it has been frozen it will be hard and dry. If it is hard and you cannot put 
your thumbnail into the flesh the bulb will be worthless. 
It costs no more to grow a good variety than a cheap one so why not grow 
the good ones. 
A good way to start in a new variety without undue cost is to buy bulblets. 
Many people planting high priced bulblets peel them. This is unnecessary. 
Just cracking them between the thumb and finger so as to let the moisture inside 
is all that is necessary and with most varieties it isn’t necessary to do that. But 
to make sure that high priced varieties do get a good start it is well to crack them. 
Do not take the husks off from bulbs until a short time before planting unless 
you have a fairly damp or cool place to store them as the husks help to keep the 
bulbs from drying up. It is not necessary to take the husks off at anytime. The 
only reason for taking them off would be to see if there were any disease spots on 
the bulbs. 
Some of the greatest fun in growing glads is to raise seedlings. Every seed 
will produce a different gladiolus. Even though you grow millions no two are alike. 
It is just as easy to grow glads from seed as most anything else. They just 
need to be covered in some way to keep the soil moist until they germinate, which 
usually takes two or three weeks. 
Seeds will produce bulbs of various sizes from small to medium or even larger 
the first season. Most of them will bloom the second season and produce large 
bulbs. 
“By everyone doing his best in the job he thinks most useful this country is going 
to regain its momentum ” — Henry Ford. 
We are trying to do the best in our job. 
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