For April, 1920 



159 



His pleasing personality was well known 

 to the gardennig fraternity. Though they 

 have passed from our midst, both will live 

 long in the memories of those who were 

 fortunate enough to be classed among 

 their friends. Jack Conroy, Cor. Sec'y. 



THE QUESTIONNAIRE 



Subscribers arc imited to make free use 

 of this department to soke problems that 

 may arise in their garden work. Questions 

 on the ordinary pursuits of gardening, that 

 can be readily answered by applying to the 

 usual reference books should not be re- 

 ferred to the Questionnaire. 



Can you tell me the best way to start 

 seed-raising en a commercial scale? I 

 have been raising seeds for years. I do 

 not know where to buy envelopes for 

 seeds or any of the material. — W. B., 

 Minn. 



Some information on the above may be 

 gathered from the following publications of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C. : 

 "Vegetable Seed Growing as a Business," 

 Year Book, Separate, 512. "Saving Vege- 

 table Seeds for the Home and Market Gar- 

 den," Farmers' Bulletin. 884. Also from 

 a book written and published by Charles 

 Johnson, Marietta, Pa., "The Seed Grower." 

 Packet envelopes and bags may be obtained 

 of Brown Bag Co., Fitchburg, Mass., and 

 Robert Gair Co., Brooklyn, N. Y.— A. S. 



Here and There 



RENAMING GERMAN IRISES. 



Editor — I have just noted in your Feb- 

 ruary issue a quotation from The American 

 Botanist en "Renaming German Irises." It 

 appears in your column "Here and There," 

 on page 76. 



I heartily agree with the unnamed author 

 on the absurdity of renaming irises for the 

 reasons mentioned, but he makes a state- 

 ment which must certainly be challenged. 

 It reads : "* * '' we may point out that 

 ihe reason certain irises are called German 

 irises is because they are derived from a 

 species of Centra! Europe, named /. ger- 

 maiuca." This may or may not be true. 



The varieties in the trade today which 

 show any relation to /. gcnnanica are very 

 few indeed. Amas, Kharput, Siwas, Pur- 

 ple King, etc., may be mentioned, and these 

 are for the most part geographical varia- 

 tions of a species which, if I remember 

 correctly, does not occur wild in Germany 

 in spite of its name. With these must be 

 grouped the varieties like Oriflamme and 

 other derivatives of Amas. But these last 

 are the results of pollen crosses (probably 

 of .Amas), for with the exception of 

 Kharput all the true germanica irises have 

 proved pod-sterile with me and with other 

 breeders whose work I know. 



There is, therefore, no reason for aban- 

 doning the commnn name, "German Irises" 

 for so-called patriotic motives, but there is 

 ample gmuiul for doing so on the botanical 

 side, since /. gcnnanica (the species) is 

 sterile in the majority of its forms and has 

 a small group of derivatives and progeny 

 in the trade. On the other hand, the Irises, 

 pallida and variegata (both species'), and 

 their natural hybrids have an enormous 

 number of descendants to which are now- 

 being added hybrids with /. trnjana. Since 

 the botany of the genus Iris groups 

 all the iris species into sections ac- 

 cording to their relationship, and since' 

 the names of the sub-groups are of 



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12 for 90 cents; 50 for $3.25; 100 for $6.00, postpaid 



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