things for novices. In trying to hit a show you 
should make at least three plantings of bulbs 
a week or so apart. In this way you will be 
more likely to have some good blooms at the 
proper time. You may have to hold some spikes 
back by putting them in a cold cellar or re- 
frigerator for a few days. If you can possibly 
get blooms to shows I urge you to do so. You 
will not only get a great kick out of winning 
prizes but will meet a lot of other glad fans 
with whom you can swap experiences. Re- 
member that there are several different size 
classes in which you can compete. You don’t 
have to enter in just the large size class. Or in 
some shows you can enter novice classes, until 
you win one blue ribbon. 
Spotted blooms 
In a few varieties the color peels out in spots 
under bad weather conditions. This is not usual, 
however. But if your blooms get badly spotted, 
chances are it is ‘“‘bean mosaic,” a disease car- 
ried by insects other than thrips. Bulbs so 
affected should be destroyed. To avoid this 
condition you should spray or dust with an 
insecticide that will kill aphis and leaf hoppers. 
I suggest Enuff Brand, mentioned on page 67 of 
this catalog. Enuff is both an insecticide and 
fungicide. It contains Rotenone that is death to 
most insects. 
Thrips 
This is an insect and not a disease as some 
people think. It can easily be avoided by dis- 
infecting before planting, spraying or dusting 
with DDT during the growing season, and again 
dusting at digging time and after cleaning. 
Every gardener should have a spray or dust gun 
around and it is very easy to go over the glads. 
Most everything nowadays needs spraying or 
dusting. Glads are no exception if you want to 
be sure of clean ones. 
Weeding 
I have some good reports on the use of sprays 
that kill broad-leafed weeds between rows of 
glads, but if you try this, follow istructions 
on the package carefully and try only a small 
space at first. One amateur tells me he hasn't 
weeded his glads by hand in three years, but 
if you try sprays like 2-4-D it’s on your own 
head if they don’t work, not mine. 
Disease 
There are various diseases to which glads are 
subject. But don’t let the articles you see in 
various papers frighten you. If you plant glads 
on fair soil and they don’t get too much water, 
the chances are you will not be troubled with 
disease, tho you may lose an occasional bulb. 
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 cannot 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 soil and weather and other local conditions 
that we cannot guarantee that you will harvest 
a good crop. It is beyond our control. 
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. If I had choice high 
priced bulblets I would peel them or at least 
take a piece of husk off one side. 
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 re- 
verted in high priced varieties I will be glad to 
replace them. Sometimes white sports of 
Picardy revert and occasionally some others. 
A classic 
The following paragraph describing the 
various stages of gladiolus growing has 
attracted so much attention and been quoted 50 
many times that I am repeating tt again: 
“There is a fascination about growing 
glads that becomes a hobby, then a craze. 
There are ‘five Stages of interest in growing 
glads.’ First you just grow them as an ama- 
teur, same as you would any other flower. 
Then as your interest in them increases you 
become a ‘fan,’ then a ‘bug,’ then a ‘nut,’ then 
