NEW BEDFORD, MASS. 
5 
hope these notes may be of help to our customers in having their gardens filled with' better 
glads each year, 
OPEN YOUR PACKAGE of bulbs as soon as received and allow the air to get at them; 
if there are only a few in each bag open the top and stand the bag up in a box. If there 
are many bulbs in a bag it is advisable to pour them out, each variety in a separate shallow 
box. Now they can be stored in a cool dry cellar, preferably where the temperature is about 
40° fahrenheit and it is well to let some fresh air in occasionally. Rats or mice will not 
damage gladiolus bulbs very much, except for carrying a variety from one container to another 
and mixing them up, as they are slightly poisonous to all rodents. 
You can make YOUR FIRST PLANTING about the time farmers put in their first potatoes 
and this will vary according to location. Your last planting should be at least 120 days before 
your usual first frost but that is hardly long enough if you expect to dig good mature bulbs 
of the midseason varieties. In our locality it would seem best to make about three plantings, 
three or four weeks apart, to insure a long season of bloom. 
Clads love the sun so SELECT A SUNNY LOCATION away from trees or shrubs where 
roots might take up the food and moisture you intend the glads to get and also away from 
the sides of houses, walls or fences that might shade them even if only for part of each day. 
The soil will have considerable bearing on your culture. If a heavy clay soil you will 
not need to plant more than two thirds as deep as in a light sandy soil. Plant large bulbs 
about six inches deep in light sandy soil; medium bulbs four inches and small bulbs three 
inches. If you are mainly interested in bulblet increase plant as close to the surface as 
possible but if blooming size bulbs you will probably have to stake them. Light soils will 
usually give more bulblets than heavy soils. 
Either spade or plough, depending on the size of the garden, the soil deeply, preferably 
in the fall, leaving it rough during the winter. If stable manure is available put it on before 
spading and it will be well rotted by spring. 
If the glads are grown for landscape effect they should be in beds about eight to ten 
inches apart depending upon the variety. If grown for the blooms, as more often is the case, 
they should be in rows and the bulbs can be placed either in single or double rows. I prefer 
double rows in the trench as then they tend to hold each other up on a windy day. The 
rows should be from eighteen inches apart to thirty-six inches depending on whether you 
intend to cultivate by hand or machine. The wider rows are much easier to handle if culti¬ 
vating machinery is used. Allow about five inches between large bulbs and less as the size 
of the bulbs planted decreases. 
FERTILIZER; many think there is some great magic in the special type, brand, or 
formula of fertilizer that the successful grower uses. I do not think there is. Of course on 
a large planting there is an economic fact but for the average garden grower the saving is not 
worth enough to think much about it. It is hard to know what to suggest for in different 
localities certain fertilizers are available to one that are impossible in another. I believe that 
the average garden person would do well to use little, if any, commercial fertilizers depending 
on the dried animal manures and phosphate; if the ordinary rotted barnyard manure is avail¬ 
able so much the better. One can not do any damage to the plans if too much animal 
manures are used but such is not the case with commercial fertilizers and especially so now 
that many of these are so high test that they should only be used by some experienced person. 
After the trench is dug to the desired depth put in some fertilizer; the amount is hard 
to tel! for some hands are bigger than others; if commercial fertilizer, use an average handful 
to about four feet of row. If dry manure, use at least double the amount as it is much 
more bulky. Now be sure the soil is well loosened and the fertilizer is well mixed in the 
bottom of the trench before setting the bulbs. After the bulbs are set, cover in the trench 
and hill it up a bit. When the first weeds appear rake it down level again and that first 
crop of weeds is easily killed. Many years ago, when I first started farming, a very successful 
farmer said to me, “remember a crop well planted is a crop half grown”, and I believe he 
was 100% right. When the plants are up eight or ten inches give them about the same 
