The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-01-28
some Fine GiadloIus

one ought to have invented better
name for what I consider the grand
est of all summer Towering Dubious
plants, the gladioli. AS matter Of
fact, can remember. way back, when
the common name of this plant was
the sword lily in some sections it was
called the corn flag. Parties who
remember this flower even as re-
cent as 80 or 40 years ago unless ia
miliar with it's development would
hardly recognize now some of the
wonderful creations that have been
evolved through selection and hy
bridization.
Fortunately some of the finest va
rieties can now be bought for cents
and 10 cents each, that only a few
years ago, were being offered at
81 or more for single bulb. There
is an enormous list of varieties and
many new ones are being offered at
ridiculously high prices, but the fol-
lowing list is cheap and embrace
some of the finest America, soft flesh
pink; Chicago white, white with
lavender markings; HALEY, Salmon
pink; Mrs. Frank Penleton. Salmon
pink. blatched red; Mrs. Francis
King, flaming scarlet; niagra,
creamy yellow; with rosy carmine
white with carmine throat; schwaben,
canary yellow, blatched with garnet
and besides many various blends and
mixtures are available.
Truth About Tomato Seed
There is no other seed in which
the professional grower as well as
the amateur is SO particular about as
he is the selection of his tomatoes,
yet there is more pure bunk ex-
Il.
and wonderful varieties than is the
case with any other one vegetable,
The writer has wasted a lot of time
in trial. ground with many new and
always expensive sorts, only to find
the resulting crop to be identical and
often inferior to other well known
sorts. There is no purpose TO minim-
lie the Importance of new and really
meritorius sorts but 1 wish to go
on record that from actual ex-
perience there is too much import
anee attached to variety. In standard
commercial or large fruited sorts
there are no sorry or worthless kinds
but there is tremendous differ
ence in the quality of the same va
rfety There is probably no other
important vegetable that deterio-
rates so rapidly when constant care
in selection is neglected. Tomatoe
types won't stay fixed unless at lot
of careful, honest and painstaking
work is undertaken to keep the
strain or type up to that standard
of perfection necessary for the maxi
mum results. 1t matters little what
variety you plant as long as the
stock is well bred. There is entirely
too much "stalling'' about variety.
Lesson From the weather
When this is being written, Jann-
airy 81, 1923, the writer has turned
his electric stove into an electric
fan and is enjoying the spring
breezes. The season and the present
weather has upset all the dope extant
in any and all discussion that has to
do with planting. Today, most of
our roses are in full foliage and
blooming as if there was no such
thing as winter The question is,
will there be any winter? No earthly
mortal knows. The writer is being
censured on every hand about some
prior recommendation that he has
made about setting out this or that.
Don't blame The Age-Herald about
the weather. This paper is doing
all it can to order the weather to
suit the private Individual, the anna
teur, professional and the plain or
binary farmer. We want probably
what tine French expect to get, and
what they will finally get is just
about as problematical as the wealth
er condition that we may expect to
obtain for the next two months.
Don't let the weather bluff You.
Plant what The Age Herald tells you.
We are more often right than wrong.
Questions and Answers
@. Is cotton seed meal about the
cheapest fertilizer one can use for
general garden purposes? G.. H.
(A) Cottonseed meal is one of the
valuable plant foods for the ammo
mia or nitrogen it may contain and.
while largely used as an ingredient
in complete fertilizers, it is not
complete fertilizer and not often eco
nominac on account of its high price.
AT the present high price of this ma
terial other fertilizing agents are
more economical.
@, Can you tell us what the June
pink tomato ought to look like?
What we obtained. last year was
rather coarse light red. and while
early, was not salable. c. s.,
Georgiana. Ala.
A. A well bred stock of June pink
tomato should produce a compact and
vigorous vine with short, close joint
ed branches and usually the vine is
not strong enough to hold the fruit
that grows in clusters and is inclined
s1f H. rro