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Successful Gladiolus Culture 
The present day varieties of gladiolus can be very EASILY GROWN to perfection in every 
section of United States or Canada as well as in most all the foreign countries. We hope these 
notes may be of help to our customers in having their gardens filled with better glads this 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. 
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; we suggest in southeastern New 
England—April 10-15, May 10 or thereabouts, and June 1-10. 
Glads 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 a 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, 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 six 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. We pre- 
fer double rows in the trench as then they tend to hold each other up on windy days. 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: This item plays a very important part in successful growing, yet the cost 
in relation to the whole is not a large factor. Therefore it pays to use a plant food that sup- 
plies not only the so-called major elements, but the just-as-important minor elements as well. 
Research has shown that deficiencies in minor elements will cause a very definite retardation 
if not a complete failure of a crop. 
