Seedling Hobby Spreads 
We have written short stories in our cat- 
alogue for some time about growing the 
glads from seed, and exhorting other folks 
to try it. Some have accepted the chal- 
lenge, and I get some interesting letters 
about their success and failures. I try to 
answer every one, and offer a helpful sug- 
gestion where opportunity offers. There 
are seasons, of course, when it is difficult 
to “set” the seed, and most crosses will fail. 
The summer of 1950 was definitely not 
one of those poor seasons, as our crosses 
provided an abundance of seed. This sum- 
mer was not as good, two hail storms 
wrecked a lot of spikes for us; and a 
couple of high winds made the going 
rough. However, we did manage to get a 
fair crop of seed, and we hope it will grow 
well. 
We have managed to get four or five 
other fellows interested in Seedlings, to the 
point where they have started making 
crosses, and several local men have grown 
a group of bulbs from seed during 1951. 
It is now my hope that we can have seed- 
ling shows on week-ends, where we may 
exhibit our pets for one another to see and 
compare. Three of these fellows have two 
to four thousand bulbs for 1952 planting. 
It will be good fun to judge and score each 
other’s blooms. 
This grower has planned a number of 
crosses for 1952, am lining up the bulbs for 
planting, and hope it is a good season for 
making seed. Did you ever try Ivory 
Keyes X Bingo? We made that cross in 
1942, and the seedlings gave us some great 
thrills. 
We are going to try removing the wings 
from our seed next Spring, just at planting 
time, so we may plant it without the wind 
carrying it all over the garden. By rub- 
bing it thru No. 8 wire cloth, the wings 
are broken off, and a slight puff of air will 
leave the clean seeds looking like radish 
seed; and it can be planted even in windy 
days. 
Variety Comments 
We are not going to go into detail with 
our story of varieties, this time, but will 
mention some of our favorites among the 
new varieties grown by us this past season. 
Perhaps we should say “those that were 
new to us’. White Lace, White Goddess 
and Mother Fischer were the best whites 
we found; and we think dainty White Lace 
leads the pack. We grew only 45 bulbs of 
it, but they were all wonderful and so uni- 
form. Little Gold, Gold and Yellow Her- 
ald seemed to be best in that color. Pac- 
tolus (with blazing blotch) was again out- 
standing. We are going to increase stock 
on this one. Cream Orchids and Heart 
O’Gold were excellent in that class. In 
light pink we prefer Evangeline, Friend- 
ship, Tivoli, Heart’s Desire and Boise Belle, 
all of them performing fine the past year. 
Francesca, C. D. Fortnam, Crown Jewel 
made a splendid showing in this their first 
year with us. In the deeper shades, Gor- 
geous Deb, Spic and Span, Enchanment, 
Cotillion and Fairyland presented lovely 
spikes for our enjoyment. 
Elmer’s Rose and Noweta Rose, sister 
seedling, are both excellent glads, and 
grew splendidly for us. If we could grow 
but one red gladiolus, it would have to be 
Red Wing, altho Burma and Red Charm 
seem to have a permanent home with us. 
We consider the great Burma to be the 
greatest Glad of all time. Unusually 
healthy with us now. Seldom find a poor 
bulb. 
As we continue to grow glads, those with 
beautiful orchid throats appeal to us more 
and more. Pactolus never seemed so beau- 
tiful as this season, and along came Crown 
Jewel to gladden our hearts. A great seed- 
ling at the Algona State show with a 
startling blotch will linger on in our mem- 
ories. One of our own seedlings helped 
the cause too. The beautiful Boise Belle, 
Sunspot and Strawberry Peach thrill us 
with their wonderful throat coloring. How- 
ever, that blast we get from an over- 
whesmune blotch—is what we are looking 
or. 
We believe we should list our top fifteen 
favorites right here. A glad does not have 
to have a dollar bulb to reach our best list, 
but if it continues to be a thrill to us, it 
can step right up there. 
Aureole Pactolus 
Boise Belle Phantom Beauty 
Burma Red Wing 
Eliza. The Queen Spic & Span 
Evangeline Strawberry Peach 
Friendship Wedgwood 
Noweta Rose White Lace 
Orange Gold 
