L.E. (MONK) MAY AND HOPKINS FACH 
ISSUING SEPARATE LISTS FROM NOW ON 

Monk and I do much of our buying together, continue to com- 
pare notes carefully on new varieties, make agreements on new 
introductions together as before ~ but our gardens are 65 miles 
apart and during growing season we don't see each other except 
at shows - tho we talk on phone about glads practically every 
week day. Monk will issue his list to a limited list only and 
on request. His address is L.E. MAY, 142 Garden St., LaPorte, 
Indiana. Our two lists are each individual and somewhat dif- 
ferent. I am listing more varieties while he has some in com- 
mercial quantities I do not have. His list may or may not have 
variety comments, but the Illinois Notebook will run articles by 
him commenting on his variety preferences. 
NOW EDITING THE ILLINOIS NOTEBOOK 

For five years I have, as many of you know, been editing the 
Midwest Gladiolus Reporter. This has now gone out of business 
to give a clear track for other gladiolus quarterlies and I am 
now editing the Illinois Notebook, an eight page, printed, 
oe 11) snch quarterly which you get free if you join the [1- 
linois Gladiolus Society for one dollar per year, sending your 
dollar to Ralph Kircher, 1419 W. Edwards St., Springfield, I1l- 
linois. The Illinois Notebook will be a free forum on variety 
comment on glads and print adverse as well as favorable comment. 
Everybody who grows glads anywhere are invited to send articles 
or letters to me and if I think they are good reading they get 
printed without being edited - just as you wrote them. I par- 
ticularly want everybody who wrote for the Midwest Reporter to 
continue to send me articles for the Notebook. The first issue 
came out in December 1945 and others will appear in March, June 
and September, 1946. About 8,000 words of good glad reading per 
issue. Have many good writers who will contribute regularly. 

AN INVITATION TO CATALOGERS AND HYBRIDIZERS TO 
SEND _IN THEIR NEW VARIETIES FOR TEST GROWING AND 
RATING 


All catalogers and, I assume, most hybridizers know that 
there is neither much honor or money in introducing a mediocre 
glad - the real honor and profit being in having a variety that 
is a genuine contribution to its size and color class. 
So I invite you to send me your new varieties for rating and 
test growing. I aim to give every bulb good growing, without 
side dressing. True you can gain height and floret width with 
side dressing but it will not give a fair appraisal of the flo- 
wer and is not good business with new varieties. 
If your variety is a contribution to its size and color class 
it will be rated and listed in my annual list of the best vari- 
eties in each color class. If your variety makes this list, 
being included in my list will help you sell it. If it does not 
make the list, it will hurt your sales. 
If you desire to push only the really good varieties you will, 
I am sure, realize that to be told your new variety is not quite 
good enough to be included in the best list is a help and not a 
harm. Catalogers lose money on glads - as a rule - if they are 
not really good. It is in their interests and worth money to 
them to find out if any new variety is not good enough. Every- 
body won't agree with me on this - but some will. 
If you send me new varieties for test growing send 3 large 
minimum - or if you send 6 that is better. If you want to also 
have them receive the accurate, experienced good judgement of 
Monk May as well send double the amount and I will give Monk 
half the bulbs and you get two reports and two ratings - one 
from me and one from Monk. 
Of course I buy new varieties - if you don't send them - but 
I wait until the variety is down to $2.00 or $3.00 - buy but one 
or two bulbs - and then only buy what has proved can win on the 
show table or where my judgment tells me from the growers or 
catalogers description that it has a chance in its color. 
However if you want the truth about your glad soon as you can 
get it my ratings have a seven year record of accuracy - I have 
discarded over 800 varieties - maybe a great many more - and so 
far have made no serious errors. In other words having your 
glads rated in my garden or in both mine and that of Monk May 
will help the good varieties - if really good - and on the 
others give you a good appraisal and give it to you at end of 
one season. These ratings have a broad acceptance in the United 
States and Canada and some acceptance in foreign countries - as 
N.E.G.S. annual is an international authority on glads and has 
an international acceptance. 
Another reason why a test report from my garden has excep- 
tional value, in my judgement, is that I grow all the glads 
rated best in each color class. Your bloom is compared to all 
the others that are rated the best in that color - not just half 
of them. The average gladiolus hybridizer sees his seedling in 
bloom and in his mind compares it to the best in that color 
that he knows - BUT almost always he personally has seen but 
half the varieties that comprise the best rated varieties. In 
my garden we grow them all - so when we say it is among the best 
it really is. That what I am saying is true is proved by fact 
that about 150 new ones are introduced every year - and of that 
150 about 100 should never have been introduced - by the grower 
or the cataloger. My garden is a severe test - but if your 
glad can't stand such a test it will never be widely popular, 
will it? You can figure that out as well or better than I can. 
But that's the way it seems to me. 


PRICES AND QUALITY OF BULBS 

Our prices are in line with those of other catalogers, all 
bulbs are healthy and clean - and true to name, if any bulb is 
not true to name we will refund the purchase price and replace 
it the following spring. Our minimum order is $2.00 as we dis- 
covered we cannot handle smaller orders and make a profit. 
Postage is paid to destination and included in our price. 
Our overcount is liberal. We grow many jumbo size bulbs and 
include these with the first orders regardless of increased 
postage we have to pay. All bulbs are free from thrip and 
disease. ; 
We are improving our packing and inspection and humidity of 
our bulb rooms and before shipping we give a critical examina- 
tion of each bulb to be sure it is a good, clean bulb. 

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM BULBS OF DIFFERENT SIZES 
You have to have No. 3 bulbs or larger to receive top bloom 
and do not always get it from No. 3 bulbs. Large bulbs are Nos. 
2 and 1 which means are Us inches in diameter or larger. No. 1 
bulbs are from 14 inches up to 3 inches. Some folks say they 
consider a No. 2 bulb as just an undergrown No. 1 but I[ have 
found No. 2 perfectly okey for top bloom - always repeating - 
"given good growing." I have had fine success growing exhibi- 
tion bloom from No. 3 bulbs but have had some varieties that 
simply will not do their best unless from large bulbs. The 
trouble begins when you order Medium - which means No. 3 or No. 
4 and No. 4 bulbs will not give you maximum length of flower 
head, height or width and number open of florets. No. 4 will 
give you a good flower - but not show specimens except in rare 
instances. No. 4 is 3/4 inch and over up to 1 inch. 
Small bulbs are No. 5 - 5/8 inch and No. 6 - $ inch. When 
you buy small bulbs you put off seeing the flower at its best 
for one more year. The first year the small bulbs will give you 
a flower - but much smaller than the variety grown from large 
bulbs and in the first year will grow into a No. 1, 2 or 3. It 
does not always grow into a No. 1 or larger - depending on the 
growing and watering. 
When we receive orders for large, we fill with No. 1 or 
larger first and when those are out finish up with No. 2. When 
you order M - medium - we fill the first orders with No. 3 and 
finish up with No. 4. So it is important to have your orders in 
early - as last year we ran out of bulbs in many varieties and 
received around fifty orders we were unable to fill at all as 
they were received after we had started planting. We have some 
jumbo No. 1 bulbs - bulbs 2 to 3 inches in diameter and use 
those on the early orders - while they last. 


NO ORDERS FILLED AFTER APRIL 14th 

Because in order to get our bulbs planted we have to start 
planting, weather permitting, by April 15th. Last year we had 
to return many orders because they were received after the 
