Evening star., 1925-07-12
This and That
By Charles E. TrdcetUeH.

To be first in anything is the am
bition of many men and some organ.
izations. One may reach the North
Pole later without much attention, but
the first man there got the lions
share.
To be a member of the first club to
go on a certain sort of outing-this is
fame TO many. To be the first one i'll
a community to sport certain car IL
the height of earthly glory TO others.
Certainly being first" does have
its appeal TO human beings; we will
leave to the psychologists the task of
puZzling out the why and wherefore.
The first Gladiolus bloom ever grown
in ones garden has an interest per
haps never to be equaled, and GER
tainly not eXcelled, by the flowers that
will come after.
One had seen the long stalks Of
these flowers in florist shops and in
vases in windows. but il was not until
his own production, the result of his
own planting and care. came to grace
the flower border that he realized just
how beautiful the Glads could be.
One only gets out of anything what
he puts into it, goes the old saying
Accordingly, he who carefully tends.
cultivates and waters a favorite bulb
will have more pleasure at blooming
time than the chance spectator who
says, How pretty
X x
The first Glad in our garden TO bloom
was Flora, one of Mr.. Burbank's S orig
nations. 1t was put in the ground
May 10, the first blossom expanding
July 6, just 4S days from planting. If
there are any earlier Gladioh than
this, l would like to know about them.
According to the catalogues, most of
them take so or more days.
With the dew upon its petals, Flora
was a thing of beauty, if not a joy
forever. as it cleaned there in the
morning sunshine of the hot Summer
day.
This first flower, of course, was the
lowest on the bud stalk which had
shot up in about two weeks, in the
strange way the stalks have of ap-
pearing from nothing"
OF d strange translucence, white suf
fused with blush pink, Flora shows
yellow in the throat with carmine
markings deeper down. The petals
remind one of stained church win
dow their wetness giving the appear
ance of glass.
Perhaps this is as good a specimen
as any 10 show the wonder of this
most popular of Summer Towering
bulbs. Other Glads there may be more
beautiful or whose blooms open bet
but none of the rest of them will be
the first TO bloom-not this year, any
way.
Gazing at the flower. one had the
feeling that comes TO most who seri-
ousy look at any beautiful thing:
That such a fragile, delicate, color
full creation could not be the result of
mere chance. but that behind 1t all
L. Ill.
gence.
Down through thousands of years
the ancestors of that CORN las the
Gladiolus bulb is calledl had carried
the germ of this particular bloom.
Only a few years ago a man took
hand in this creation, and perhaps
by cross -pollenization or some other
method evolved a different coloring
and succeeded in making the bulb
bloom earlier than usual.
But If man could do this much, ere
ating in little. what must have been
the ability to create in the first place.
Propounding such a question, one
can return to active cultivation of
floral pets. Day by day, in every way.
they are growing better and better.
Plenty of water is needed to bring
these watery blooms to perfection
Cultivation of the ground around
the plant is necessary, according tn
all growers, and such work does give
the gardener the delightful feeling of
having a hand in the work, too.
About day after a heavy watering
or good rain, the gardener finds the
soil easily broken up with a small
weeder or trowel, fork. or even the
fingers.
Keeping the soil pulvsrized for an
inch or so down conserves the mois-
ture, as all know, and allows one TO
be pleasantly occupied at the same
time he is helping the flowers.