Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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poem in a newspaper, with no credit given to any other publication. When the Garden Magazine saw the poem in Wise-Acres, they promptly informed the palpitating Staff that they had infringed a copyright, and it would require the payment of $100 to soothe the Garden Magazine!! Fortunately the School's attorney was able to soothe said magazine by much less expensive methods, and the trouble blew over so quietly that the editor's notes hold no record of the settlement. The growth of the School is noted in later issues, as in November, 1914, the completion of the two greenhouses added onto the original one is mentioned. The present “Dorm was a thrill which occupied parts of several pages in different numbers. On May 6th, just after the first Wise-Acres appeared, the ground was staked off for the building. Although promised for January 1, 1915, it is in the June number that we find this entry in the School Notes: “April 26.—Moving Day! With one accord and a Henry Ford, we gaily made our long-delayed entry into the new building. It was all very strange at first, but now that the smell of fresh paint has worn off, and some of our misplaced belongings have come to light, we begin to feel less like visitors, and more like permanent residents. The paper was discontinued for a year or so during the war. But aside for this slight and necessary interim, the back numbers bring to light many interesting, instructive and entertaining articles. Some of the titles that one notes as holding vast possibilities of information are: “The Flora of Hawaii”. “Through the War Zone in War Time . “Some Recently Extinct Birds . “Dahlias . “The Outlook in the Field of Horticulture . “Poisonous Plants . “A Paying Poultry Plant . “Flowering Bulbs for the House . One longs for room to reprint many of these for the benefit of the newer students. The humorous sallies, quotations from Exchanges, or from the ever-bright and scintillating wits of our own students, appeared as “Smiles for a while, later under the title of “Relish for the Wise . Only a year ago the truly unique and peculiarly fitting heading of “The Compost Pile made . its debut. Improving with age, one would say! All in all, Wise-Acres has had a career of ten prosperous and we trust useful years of existence, and we can heartily wish it many more. E. C.

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steady income of the paper. I will refrain from quoting the prices set in those pre-war days for fear of making the present advertisers green with envy, but will merely state mildly that prices have “riz” in this as in everything else. The aim of the magazine was “for advancement of interests pertaining to the school, news items, short stories, advertising and any matter of interest from other publications relating to growing things.” At the end of ten years it seems that we are living up to the ambition of the initiators very well. These minor details were decided upon comparatively easily, but oh!—the naming of the “baby”! Such a task! The presence of eight sponsors, each with several ideas in the matter complicated the problem vastly. Meetings were held on January 21st, 22nd, 29th and 30th before a final and irrevocable decision was reached. Of course it was the desire of the whole group to have a name suggestive of the main interests of the paper. “Cuttings”, “Budding”, “Spade and Barrow”, “The Sprinkling Pot” were thought up, and turned down; “Pruning Shears, A Bundle of Choice Cuttings” was voted for, and considered seriously over night, but fortunately some of the Staff or the Director questioned the suitability of the name. So the discussion waxed hot once more, and to quote the Editor's notes:—“ ‘Cuttings' once more takes the floor and it immediately propagates ‘Choice Cutting? from Garden and Orchard'. ‘Sand, Loam, and Humus'—well-rotted (sub rosa); ‘Digs and Cuts' and at last, ‘Wise-Acres' are brought forward.” On the day of the final decision, given only five minutes to settle1 it, the vote fell in favor of the last, and under the now famous name, the .first issue appeared in March, 1914. This first number mentioned a “Horticultural Conference” held in May, 1913, at the School, at which many people expressed the wish for the formation of a society for women interested in horticultural things. March Wise-Acres announced the aim of the Woman's National Agricultural and Horticultural Association, which had been formed in the year. Mrs. Frances King was the first President. So the School can feel partly instrumental in the inauguration of a movement which has become nation-wide in its usefulness. The second number described the first conference of the Association on May 16, 1914, when four hundred and fifty people enjoyed a well-planned program as well as the charming weather. The subjects discussed during the day were varied:—“The True Role of the Horticultural Society”, by Mrs. King; “Small Fruit Growing for Women”, by Mr. George T. Powell: “Raising Rainbows”, by Bertrand H. Farr, and many other interesting topics. This issue caused a thunderstorm which seemed likely to damage the crops for a while. In it was copied “The Glory of the Garden”, by Rudyard Kipling. They had found the 7

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“ THE IDLE RICH ” When I vast riches would acquire, I get some paper and some pens, Sit down before the kitchen fire, And spend the evening keeping hens. Next evening I would richer grow, And soon annex a sum to suit. I get a catalog or so And spend the evening raising fruit. Exchange. SOME GLADIOLUS EXPERIMENTS By A. Greene Horne, H. J. The writer of these notes has called himself a farmer and a lover of natural history; and has always been more fond of plants than of animals. He has grown some flowering plants, Gladioli among them, as well as the so-called more useful crops. Being an admirer of the. “Glads” for their orchid-like beauty as well as for their ease of culture, I purchased one or two packets of seeds about eight years ago and sowed them in my garden. As a result I obtained a small quantity of bulbs, varying in size from a little more than one-eighth to one-half inch in diameter. These were replanted the following spring, and a few bloomed that summer; not good spikes, but enough to show somewhat the color of tiie flowers and something of the habit and arrangement of the blooms on the spike, etc. That fall I had good-sized bulbs, or more correctly speaking, corms and some cormels. The next year they showed up in good form and demonstrated their characteristics as to color, size, shape, substance, placing on the spike, height, keeping quality, vigor, earliness or lateness or bloom, and all those things which make for value or otherwise, from both aesthetic and commercial standpoints. As varieties do not “come true” from seed but almost invariably differ from the parent, owing perhaps to many generations of cross-pollination, an infinite number of varieties may be produced, good, bad and indifferent, by growing seedlings. Being interested to see what some of the more choice kinds would produce, I saved seed from them and planted. And when the resulting plants came to blooming I had many surprises, and a few handsome flowers, but all 9