ae HOW I OBTAINED VIGOUR AND BRANCHING HABIT 
‘4 IN IRIS RAISING 
BY 
M. George YELD M. A. Oxon. 
‘a A newly opened blossom of Pallida dalmatica, on a dewy morning, ~ 
in June, forty years ago, awoke my interest in Irises. Soon after, I 
began to get together a collection of the best varieties at that time — 
obtainable from MM. James Backhouse, of York, and the late 
_ M. Robert Parker, of Tooting. It was not very long before I began © 
to think of raising new varieties, and it was a joyful day to me : 
when I discovered, on my own initiative, how to do it. For years | 
used pallida and Queen of May (pallida) as my chief seed parents 
along with Gracchus (variegata) and other old varieties which I need 
not mention. Some of my seedlings of that period are still to be 
found in catalogues such as Sincerity, Memory (Award of Merit 
_ R. H. S.), Verbena, Oporto, Porsenna, Fay and others. | 
D 
AA 
PR. 
oy. A visit to Professor (afterwards Sir Michael) Foster's garden, at | 
‘Shelford, near Cambridge — the Mecca of Iris lovers, as it has been | 
_ called — gave me a new inspiration. We spent the whole day in . 
. ; 
_ the garden, and the geniality of my host, his delightiul humour, 
and his generosity in giving plants to an unknown gardener, make 4 
that day a red letter day in my life. « Ask for any plant you would — 
a like to have, and if I cannot spare it I will say so ». Could gene- | 
Be, rosity go further? I think I won his heart by kneeling down io, 
find out whether /ris ruthenica was scented or not. « Why, it is as. 
fragrant as violets », I said. « Yes », he answered, « but most | 
people do not discover that it has any scent at all». Later on,a, 
second visit — also spent all day in the garden — deepened my. 
regard for him as a man, and my admiration for him as a gardener. . 
Among the plants SH he sent me was one which I admired | 
greatly and which I showed at the great Yorkshire Flower Show at . 
York, on June 17 th., 1896. I placed it among my seedlings with a. 
