The Gladiolus Part 8

" undulatus, 1 ft., pink, May, 1760.

" versicolor, 1-1/2 ft., brown, June, 1794.

" vinulus, creamy white, feathered with crimson, 1888.

" viperatus, 1/2 ft., green, white, May, 1787.

" watsonioides, 1-1/2 ft., scarlet, Mt. Kilimanjaro, 1887.

ADDENDA

Odd Notes From Many Sources.

Planting gladioli after potato or tomato crops is said to incur risk of scabby stock.

Parcel post has proven very satisfactory for shipping blooms, packed in this manner.

The pure yellow Primulinus Sunbeam when displayed with purple Baron Hulot is very effective.

Peeled bulblets require a warmer soil than the unpeeled ones, and for this reason, May 15 to 20 is about the proper time for sowing.

To grow giant flower spikes, plant in rows 21 to 30 inches apart and 7 to 9 inches apart in the rows; fertilize well.

Long distance crates for mailing cut blooms may be made of slats 3/4-inch apart, with end pieces 6 to 7 inches square, braced in the middle.

All spikes should be cut when lowest or first flower begins to unroll; spikes should be set in water for an hour or more before packing.

Constant cultivation creating a dust mulch is very necessary with these as with other crops in case of drought. Many overlook this.

Mrs. B. H. Tracy says that Liebesfeur or War, Mrs. Frances King, Pink Perfection and Independence make a wonderful color combination.

It is conceded that second or even third size bulbs of Mrs. Francis King will throw a better flower spike than bulbs of a similar small size of most other kinds.

When your flowers are coming on freely and weather turns warmer, don't forget that cuttings must be made more frequently, and Sunday work unavoidable.

Some Gladiolus bulbs can stand freezing, though frozen solid. If left in tight boxes or barrels and allowed to thaw out very slowly without handling or exposure to air they will not be seriously injured.

When the roots of the gladiolus have attained their full growth, the surface of the soil should be stirred but lightly, because of the danger of cutting the roots. Prior to that time, gladiolus bulbs will stand deeper cultivation.

Write your state experiment station for a.n.a.lysis of commercial fertilizer best adapted to the Gladiolus. If you contemplate shipping cut blooms, consult your commission man as to the most satisfactory method of packing.

Young bulbs from seven eights to one inch in diameter should, if given s.p.a.ce when plants of about two and a half inches apart and well cultivated, produce a crop approximately half or more first grade bulbs and the remainder seconds.

One grower never plants gladioli the second time in succession on the same land. Dr. Van Fleet, the originator of Princeps, who distributed it through Vaughan's Seed Store, says that the variety should never be planted on recently manured land, but in a naturally deep, rich, alluvial soil.

When bulbs are worth only two cents or less and cut blooms selling at three cents net or over, stalks may be cut close to the ground, giving foliage much desired by the retail florist. This advice, of course, applies to other values whenever the flowers are selling well above the cost of the bulbs.

Gladiolus make roots freely outside in quite cool weather, therefore, may be planted as early in the spring as ground can be opened, sometimes certain soils may be heavily mulched with straw in fall and thus kept unfrozen for very early planting in March.

When cut blooms are selling for less than the value of the bulbs, great care should be used in cutting to leave four good leaves uncut as these are necessary to complete the growth and mature a healthy bulb. Two leaves or even three are not enough to finish and develop a first cla.s.s bulb.

For all points south of the Ohio River and in the extreme south second grade bulbs, that is of diameter 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches have bloomed well out of doors. Mrs. Frances King bulbs of only 1 inch to 1-1/4 have produced well; America and Chicago White for best results need larger grading than King.

Watchfulness in winter storage is necessary. If bulbs are racked or shelved too deep and become moist, they must be thinned and turned or both; if they become too dry, as they will if your cellar or storehouse lacks moisture, you may put more layers in the racks, or spread newspaper over them or spray the floor of your storeroom as often as may be necessary to maintain proper moisture which can be told by feeling of the bulbs.

Those, and they are many, both Amateur and Commercial growers who exhibit blooms at Flower shows should remember that if spikes are cut when the lowest blooms begin to open and transported to the exhibition halls early and there, standing in vases allowed to open their blooms, will be much more perfect and free from that bruised condition shown by blooms which have not been cut until the flowers on the spikes were nearly open.

One reliable grower keeps his black hard-sh.e.l.led bulblets in gunny sacks containing about one bushel mixed with about 20 per cent of fine dry earth. He has been quite successful in keeping the bulblets in this manner, and when so kept the sh.e.l.ls do not harden to such an extent as to prevent sprouting of the kernel, as sometimes is the case when they dry out too much. This same grower believes in soaking the black hard-sh.e.l.led bulblets for 36 hours in water just before planting, but no longer.

Gladiolus bulbs stored in bins should be turned every few days, especially after February, as this tends to prevent sprouting. They should not be kept in too warm and dry a place. It is best to keep them quite cool, the thermometer running as low as forty degrees Fahrenheit at times, and in an atmosphere of the ordinary cellar, which usually has some moisture. If they become troubled with green fly, sprinkle them with tobacco dust once a week.

Gladiolus bulbs stored in racks have been kept in good condition by close covering of double or triple thickness of newspapers, the bulbs being levelled off and the newspapers laid closely over the racks and kept close to the bulbs by loose strips of wood laid over them. Others have kept gladiolus bulbs in very good shape in old paper flour sacks, which contain half a bushel or three pecks of the bulbs (the bulbs being, of course, thoroughly dried out when tied in the bags). The natural moisture of the bulbs seems, by some kind of paper protection as mentioned above, to be conserved, while full and continued exposure to dry air seems to provoke scab as well as hardening of the outer skin of the bulbs.

It requires a good sized bulb of America to throw a first cla.s.s spike and second size bulbs produce, when forced, a considerably smaller spike than the first size bulbs. The America requires a longer growing season than most other gladioli and continues its growth well up to severe frosts. Growers who wish to harvest the largest possible number of first size bulbs allow these to grow as late as possible, and then leave the plants on their sides for 36 or 48 hours, during which time the sap from the stalks seems to go into the bulbs, making them more firm and putting them into better keeping condition for the winter. This latter suggestion probably applies to all gladioli and not alone to America, as it is practiced by a good many of the best growers.

Growers differ a good deal as to the depth of the planting and width of rows. One very successful Ohio grower plants his bulblets and small bulbs fully six inches deep and in rows only two feet apart, pressing the dirt down very firmly over the bulbs. Such deep planting, he claims, secures cooler soil for the working roots and insures a better crop in case of dry weather. The same grower in planting hard sh.e.l.led bulblets sows one pint to about three feet of row, making them very thick in the row, as he believes that the hard sh.e.l.led bulblets, in germinating so close together, cause the hard sh.e.l.ls of most of them to rot. There is convenience also in digging the crop which may be lifted in a ma.s.s. They also grow up so closely together in the row that they seem to choke out the weeds, thus saving hand labor.