To our many customers scattered throughout the United States, i 
send our greetings and best wishes for a happy and successful 1941. 
Last year was one of our most successful, and for this I express our 
appreciation to all our customers both old and new. We will continue 
to do all passible to warrant your patronage. 
In 1940 we raised 22 acres of glads. Due to the fact that the agri- 
cultural wage scale in this section is the highest in the United States, it 
is necessary that we produce bulbs by quite modern methods, and we 
have one of the most highly mechanized gladiolus farms in the country. 
All costs: which do not add to the quality of our product, or the welfare 
of our employees, are kept at a minimum. In this way we hope to be 
able to give you the best bulbs possible at the lowest possible cost. 
Yours for Better Glads, 
Ralph J. Pommert 
NEW VARIETIES 
Each year we buy a great many new varieties of glads for our 
trail garden. Not all that are introduced, of course, as new varieties 
are now being introduced by the hundreds annually. Many of these 
are very good, but as in the past, most of them will soom be gone and 
forgotten. A large percentage of those we try are soon discarded and 
never find their way into our catalog. However, glads are now being 
improved at a faster pace than ever before. Cleaner colors, better 
spikes, larger florets, better placement and substance, sturdier growth; 
—all these qualities, and many more, are found in the newer glads that 
lare being produced in the United States and Canada to-day. Palmer, 
Gove, Salbach, the Winsors, the Pruitts, Ellis, Mitsch, Jack, and many 
others are working continuously to give us better glads for the show 
bench and the florist. 
THE BEST VARIETIES 
No, I am not going to list what I think are the best glads, as tastes 
differ ‘in glads as in everything else. However, the popularity of a 
variety can best be judged by a poll of the public,—and polls seem to 
be quite popular now. A vote of the general public at the 1939 Wash- 
ington StateiGladiolus Show (no vote was taken in 1940) gave the fol- 
lowing results as “favorite varieties’: Marguerite, Picardy, Moorish 
King, Tip-Top, Johann S. Bach, Early Rose, Annamae, Commander 
Koehl, Golden Chimes, Star of Bethlehem, Maid of Orleans, Bagdad, 
Coryphee, Red Lory, Minuet, and Takina. 
A like poll of favorites at the 1940 Pacific Northwest show shows 
the following in the lead: Early Rose, Beacon, Picardy, Bingo, Zuni, 
Miss New Zealand, Marguerite, Shirley Temple, Walk-Over, Mother 
Machree, Red Lory, and Jalna. 
We have thousands of screen bottom trays in which our bulbs are 
dugiand stored to prevent mixing of bulblets. Our warehouse is fumi- 
gated several times during the winter With cyanide to eliminate every 
stray thrips. We exercise precaution to see that only true, healthy bulbs 
are sent out, but it is to be understood that in case of failure of crop 
for any reason or bulbs are found to be untrue to name that we will 
not be held responsible beyond the actual cost of the bulbs. 
