Hand Pollinated Gladiolus Seed 
The greatest of all thrills in growing glads is the rais- 
ing of seedlings. The element of suspense and the 
chance of originating a fine new seedling that you can 
name and introduce, or have introduced for you by some 
cataloger, is a vision that appeals to every person 
possessed of the slightest vestige of gambling instinct 
in his make-up. 
The ancestry of our modern varieties of gladiolus hy- 
brids is so complex that when any two of these are 
crossed, even tho both be red, let us say, we cannot be 
sure what will be the color of the progeny. Most of the 
seedlings undoubtedly will be some shade of red, but 
here and there will crop up a pink, a purple, or even a 
smoky. These intriguing speculations as to probable 
colors become even more unpredictable when we cross 
parents of different colors. Nor is color the only aspect 
for conjecture: floret formation, stature, health, vigor, 
and fecundity are all criteria that are equally variable 
and exciting to envision. 
There is but a small handful of catalogers who offer 
hand pollinated seed for sale. The process of pollination 
is not mysterious or complicated, but it does take con- 
siderable time, some thought in making “likely” 
matches, and diligence in keeping reliable records. 
Many crosses never beget a pregnant seed pod, while 
many pods that are harvested prove to contain only 
worthless duds. Thus, to insure the buyer of getting seed 
that is apparently viable, each seed must be hand tested 
individually with fingers or forceps before counting it 
into a packet. Even then the cataloger can make no 
guarantee of results either in germination or ultimate 
isolation of worthy individuals. So, few are willing to 
go to all this trouble to produce seed for sale. Most 
oS. only enough time to produce seed for their own 
needs. 
Most of the seeds offered in the crosses listed below 
have been made by my associate, Mr. David Hipple, who, 
unlike myself devotes no time to cut-flower production 
or to showing. His entire summer was planned, executed, 
and dedicated to the pollination of glads so that one of 
the best selections of crosses to be found anywhere 
could be listed in this catalog. He has made use of 
some of the newest and most promising varieties as 
well as employing many of the older ones that have 
proved their worth as reliable parents. 
Nor is this to be a one-sided sort of list; we are offer- 
ing several crosses of miniature and small type glads. 
also some combinations of these with larger varieties 
designed to incorporate the virtues of both into the pos- 
sible production of a new strain of medium size glads, 
the size group which is now so weak at our Shows. | 
We offer these crosses of small glads with a mixture 
of pride and reluctance, for as a leading purveyor of little 
glads, Summit Gardens probably should hang on to all 
the seed crosses of these that it can produce so as to be 
able to keep pace with other hybridizers who have 
jumped into an all-out race to originate new varieties 
of little glads, even as they concentrated on the giants 
in the past. However, we have time and Space only for 
just so much glad growing, so we must share its pleas- 
ures and profits with others. 
In many cases only one packet per cross is available, 
and others are considerably limited. Order early to avoid 
disappointment, and always indicate alternate choices. 
Remember, conditions of growth being beyond our 
control, no guarantee of germination or ultimate crop is 
made, but with reasonable care you should have gratify- 
ing results, and when you eventually get some stock of 
a good one worked up, Summit Gardens will be glad to 
introduce it for you. ‘ 
Seeds are put up in uniform packets of 20. All 
crosses listed on opposite page are 50c per packet. 
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