224 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



contestant ranked the plates of ascertain variety as 4-3-2-1, 

 wliere the judges had ranked them as 1-2-3-4, he would be 

 marked off 8 points, the largest number possible for one 

 variety, making 80 points off the maximum possible for any 

 contestant. 



The Secretary shall also mark off a maximum of 20 points 

 in case a contestant fail to identify any plate substituted as 

 provided in paragraph 5, and a proportionate number of 

 points for failure in case of any of the four to eight plates 

 substituted. In case a substituted plate is identified but not 

 correctly named, one-half the proportionate number of points 

 shall be deducted. 



The score made by any contestant shall be determined by 

 subtracting from 100 the number of points found against 

 him. 



THE lEIS. 



C. S. HARRISON^ YORK. 



Literature on the iris is meager. With the exception of an 

 elaborate and somcAvhat expensive work of R. J. Lynch, of 

 England, which is rather too scientific for the ordinary read- 

 er, there appears to be no work on the Iris. It is our wish to 

 bring the subject down to the reach of all and to introduce 

 them more fully to these remarkable flowers. J. W. Man- 

 ning, of Massachusetts, gave the horticulturists of that state 

 a fine paper on the subject, probably the fullest that has been 

 given in America. 



A VERY LARGE FAMILY. 



There are about 3 70 native sorts. Thev belong mostlv to 

 the Northern Hemisphere. You find them in Russia, Siberia, 

 in the Himalaya mountains, in France, Germany, England, 

 with numerous sorts growing wild in North America. In 

 New England, in Minnesota, and in Northwest Canada you 

 see them in large quantities in their native condition. They 



