one that blooms out in a short time. The earliest varieties are not usually quite so good as 
later ones but they do come in when the others are not in bloom and if you are selling the 
blooms you want the early ones to all come early. 
If you are growing for the shows the only way to do to get them at the proper time 
is to make about three plantings, a week or more apart. Of course the later varieties would 
all want to be planted quite early unless intended for a late show. The ordinary midseason 
kinds however should be planted in about three different lots, and even then you might have 
to hold some blooms in a cooler for a few days to have them right for the shows. 
Identification of Blooms 
I am always willing to identify blooms sent me if possible, except that we do not try to 
identify blooms that come in unlabeled collections as stated in the price list. However when 
sending blooms for identification send a part of the spike with at least five or six and pre- 
ferably more buds. And send them in the bud and dry without any special packing. Every 
year I receive many full blown blooms in a letter and almost invariably they come so withered 
that they can’t be recognized. If you send them in the bud they will open up after they reach 
here and then if I know the variety I will tell you what it is. But send stem enough so I can 
put it in a vase of water. Another reason for this is that I am gone for several days at a time 
during the blooming season and if they can be put in water they will hold till I get home. 
Visiting My Gardens 
Visitors are always welcome. But you mustn’t expect too much. I shall have about 
25 to 30 acres in several fields, 2 of the fields will be about 9 miles apart, which however are 
planted mostly to small bulbs, except my Trial Grounds. About the only large bulbs I plant 
aside from the Trial Grounds are ones left over at the end of the season. I like to sell bulbs 
not over two years old from bulblets and couldn’t do that if I planted large bulbs. Most 
of my plantings are in other places so I don’t have all varieties here and they wouldn’t all 
be in bloom at the same time anyway. 
My Trial Ground and varieties for early cut flowers start to bloom in late July and I 
should have quite a showing by mid-August, and from then on till frost. My main fields 
do not get to blooming much till September. So don’t come too early if you want to see 
many flowers. In my Trial Ground aside from a lot of seedlings and new varieties I am just 
trying out, I expect to have some of the better new things that I am growing for shows. 
Guarantee 
I guarantee to do my utmost to please my customers. We mean to send out only clean 
bulbs, free from disease and insects. Any claims or complaints in regard to bulbs should be 
sent soon after receiving the bulbs. 
Of course if any bulbs are not true to name you can not make claims for that until 
after blooming. If anything goes wrong we always try to make a satisfactory settlement 
with the customer. This is the only way that anyone can hope to build up a business. 
However there are the following exceptions to my guarantee: 
1—We cannot guarantee in any way the crop of bulbs that you will harvest. Growing con- 
ditions are so variable and so much depends upon the soil and the weather and other 
local conditions that we cannot guarantee that you will harvest a good crop. It is beyond 
our control. 7 
2—We cannot guarantee that bulblets will grow. Not all bulblets will grow anyway. 75% 
is considered a good germination. Some kinds will germinate nearly 100%, while others 
will not ordinarily germinate more than 25%. Local conditions also affect them. 
3—We cannot guarantee that all small bulbs will grow. I don’t know why they don’t but I 
do know that all of them do not grow. But there shouldn’t be a large percentage that fail. 
4—-We cannot guarantee that every bulb of a variety that is a sport from another variety 
will produce blooms like the sport. Sometimes they revert. If you do get any bulbs that 
have reverted in high priced varieties I will be glad to replace them. Sometimes the 
white sports of Picardy revert and occasionally some others. 
Complaints 
Do we get them? We sure do as does every business man. However I am happy to say 
that we don’t get very many. : 
If you do have occasion to complain about anything please give us full details. Occa- 
sionally someone writes in that their glads didn’t bloom but don’t tell anything about the 
7 
