22O Tall Bearded Iris 



If the material used is in the proper condition, the 

 work properly done and the weather conditions right, 

 fertilization will take place between one and two days 

 after pollination (early withering of the flower is 

 sometimes a sign of incipient fertilization), and in the 

 course of two weeks or less the ovary will begin to look 

 like a seed-pod. The pod will be full length (from 

 two to three inches, according to the variety) in about 

 a month, and the seed will be ripe in two to three 

 months after pollination. 



There is a woodland witch who lies 



With bloom-bright limbs and beam-bright eyes, 



Among our Water-flags, that rank 



The slow brook's heron-haunted bank: 



The dragon-flies, in brass and blue, 



Are signs she works her sorcery through; 



Weird, wizard characters she weaves 



Her spells by under forest leaves, 



These wait her work, like imps, upon 



The gray Flag-pods. 



Cawein: The Wood W itch. 



RESULTS OF CROSS-FERTILIZATION. "Like begets 

 like" is an old saying, but in the case of the Iris the 

 "like" sometimes may not be that of either parent 

 but of some other ancestor; for, as already stated 

 (page 108), almost every Iris now in commerce is itself 

 a hybrid from an unknown number of ancestors 

 a mosaic of characters of many different ancestors. 



