172 



Tall Bearded Iris 



FIG. XLVIII. CRIMSON KING, EARLY MARCH, 1917, NORTHERN ILLINOIS (Stager 

 Place, Sterling). ALL THIS FOLIAGE THEN GREEN 



later introductions, thirty-five to fifty cents; the very 

 latest and finest, one to five dollars, a very few as 

 high as twenty-five to forty dollars and one variety, 

 Taj Mahal, was listed in 1921 at one hundred dollars. 

 (Exceedingly high prices are usually more an indication 

 of scarcity than of phenominal quality.) Even if a 

 plant should cost as much as one to five dollars, in 

 a few years it will increase (most varieties) to such 

 extent that it can be divided into so many that each 

 will have cost less than ten cents (see under Rhizome, 

 page 119) the initial cost will be but a small price 

 for a section of rainbow which can be seen not for 

 a few minutes only, but all the time during the whole 

 blooming season and throughout the planter's life- 

 time, and which continues to increase in size as the 

 years go by. (As an aid to choice, see Symposium, 

 Chapter XIV.) 



