June 24, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



911 



The Lure of the Iris 



Tlie fa;=fination of a lieautiful flower is resistless. 

 We have been but recently aroused to the pecvdiar 

 chamis of the Iris. In fact the newer kinds were not 

 heard of ten years ago. Iris was the goddess of the 

 rainbow. In her garments were woven the splendors of 

 the two worlds. This summer in my invalid chair I 

 have watched the unfolding of beauty I never dreamed 

 of. I liave 200 kinds of the best, gathered regardless 

 of cost. I had no comprehension of what was in store 

 for me. If you are sick do away with your doctors 

 and give yourself to the soothing influence of Nature. 

 I called on our beloved Thurlow of blessed memory' in 

 his last illness. He said, "One day I was feeling very 

 badly and hardly knew how I would get through the 

 day. Then Susie and the boys went out and brought 

 in armsful of peonies and placed them in full view. 

 I tell you they almost cured me. Their smiles and 

 fragrance were the most grateful tonics I ever had." 



Dear reader, can you realize what it is for a strong 

 man to be laid aside with the burden of disease, to go 

 into a slovf and sure decline ? As one nears the four- 

 score mark this is inevitable. But then come the com- 

 pensations, and when I count my blessings there is no 

 room for the grouch. Two sons watch over me with 

 a motherly tenderness, a faithful wife would do too 

 much if I did not call her off. and then comes in the 

 soothing sympathy of Nature. The birds give me their 

 jolliest songs. The robins come and looking out of the 

 corners of their eyes seem to ask, "How do you do this 

 morning?" And then my flowers — the finest earth af- 

 fords vie with each other — were ever such fascinations 

 unfolded to the light of the sun ? The Irises have a 

 charm all their own. The soft velvety beauty, the 

 rich coloring, the exquisite pencilling and veining are 

 past description. Here is Perfection, a very tall vig- 

 orous robust plant as well as- a rapid, multiplier. It is 

 yet rare and costly but is cheap at a dollar. The stand- 

 ards are mauve, often dashed with deeper colors, the 

 inside showing the most exquisite veining. Falls droop 

 outward to show those large beautifully soft and velvety 

 petals. Their color is rich deep violet, veined and traced 

 in the most exquisite manner. 



Elcgans is a mnsome flower. Standards nearly white 

 splashed with violet. These markings are striking and 

 unusual in any flower; inner petals are light lavender. 

 Falls are violet veined with white — one of the choicest. 

 It is some times variable in bloom not showing up as 

 well some years as in others. Well, my pencil seems 

 tired. I may have more to say some other time. 



Mushroom Pranks 



Mr. Edgar's bed of mushrooms figured in last week's 

 Horticulture surely is an exception andis one of those 

 most complicating propositions which gardeners some- 

 times find themselves up against. Were there a hard 

 and fast rule which could be set for growing each in- 

 dindual plant or group of plants how much easier it: 

 would be and then again only one-quarter of the skill 

 now required to produce first class stufE would be- 

 needed. Other instances have come under my notice 

 where growers have diversed from the beaten track of 

 growing methods and still had results. These were 

 mostly cases of obligation there being no alternative, or- 

 the stuff in question being of a secondary consideration. 

 Necessity is said to be "the mother of invention," but 

 how many discoveries have been made accidentally. 



To go back to the "oddities" of mushroom growing 

 readers will remember my writing of a man who regu- 

 larly spawned at 60 degi'ees and had results. Now, Mr. 

 Edgar's bed goes to the other extreme. The wonder is 

 how the mycelium lived through the heat of 110 degrees. 



One may be excused for sitting back awhile and then 

 saying these are the ups and downs of a gardener's life- 

 but one thing is sure — these are exceptions rather than 

 the rule. No one would advocate their adoption for 

 regular use ; they are "100 to 1 shots." Such illustra- 

 tions as these are always interesting to readers of the- 

 horticultural press. Why do not more readers of 

 Horticulture come forward as Mr. Edgar has done- 

 and give others the benefit of their experience — results, 

 which have been obtained when conditions were averse? 

 It is only by using the columns of a widely read paper 

 like Horticulture that this end can be obtained and 

 growers' views exchanged. 



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C ^liiAjryvirt/v^ 



Yorl-, Nebraska. 



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