MISSION OF THE NtJliSERYMAN So 



much beauty, splendor and loveliness as people saw in our iris garden 

 with its ISO varieties. 



They are the finest drouth resisters we have. Ijast season we had 

 but six inches of rain in five months. It was av/ful. Dry with hot winds 

 blowing like the blast of death, but v,e did not lose an iris» Last winter 

 will long be remembered for its terrible cold and fearful storms, yet 

 not an iris died, though unprotected. By careful selection they will 

 bloom nearly two months. They are ideal flowers for the town and 

 farm. They are cheap. You can get some fine sorts for from two to 

 five cents. They multiply about ten in two years. I get letters from 

 nurserymen "they are fine, but there is no call for them." Then make a 

 call; it is your business. There is more money in them than anything 

 else you can handle. 



A few years ago we stocked up on them and how they have multi- 

 plied. We tried to sell — no call. We then published the iris manual 

 and now we sell about 25,000 a year. Yet they multiply so fast we must 

 scramble to keep out of their way. When you see a thing of known 

 merit then push it. 



We want publicity. It is time for our editors to help along. Too 

 often you send in an article on home adornment or give them a descrip- 

 tion of some worthy flower and the article comes back to you — "no call 

 for it." Plenty of room for the barn-yard, but no space for the front 

 yard. 



On other things our editors are all right. Take the hen. How they 

 have magnified and glorified her and made^ a queen of her. Take up 

 any agricultural paper and column follows column. There is a line upon 

 iteration and reiteration. Direction following direction till the wonder is 

 the poor hen gets a chance to lay an egg. But she does and the more 

 she lays the higher the price. And the proud rooster from early morn 

 till dewy eve sounds the praises of uis harem. And the editor turns in 

 and crows to beat the rooster and then cackles to beat the hen,. What 

 tons upon tons of literature that hen gels! What a pity that just a little 

 of the attention and affection given her could not be transferred to these 

 queens of loveliness, the peony, the iris, the phlox and the columbine. 



Our editors have added millions of dollars to our dairy interests by 

 showing the difference between poor and good cows. Two farmers live 

 side by side. One keeps tM'enty cows; the other has only eight but he 

 sells more milk and butter than the other. The queens of the dairy have 

 come to the front. They and their progeny bring fabulous prices because 

 they are worth it. 



We need the same attention the cattle receive. It will pay. Mil- 

 lions of dollars are held in abeyance. 



Besides our ornamental shrubs and perennials there are two which 

 are going to push their way to the front. They are the Japanese 

 and Chinese tree lilacs. They are trees. They bloom in June. I like 

 the Chinese the best. There is one in front of my house, sixteen years 



