August, 1920 
Mr. Wm Anderson had a splendid collec- 
tion of the following varieties: Lady Alexan- 
der Duff, Therese , Reine Ilorlense, Loveliness , 
Motts. Marlin Cahuzac , La France, Mary Brand, 
Martha Bulloch , Madam Augusta Dessert, 
Madam Jules Dessert, Aurora, Avalanche, 
Marie Crousse, Venus, Courrone d’O- and many 
others. 
Mr. D. W. C. Ruff furnished 27 large 
bunches of various colored blooms that were 
placed in cornucopias and hung on the walls 
entirely surrounding the exhibit. The beau- 
tiful marble seemed to add luster to the dis- 
play and the light was ideal for showing off 
the flowers to their best advantage. Mr. 
Ruff’s collection is too well known to make 
any comment other than to say that it con- 
sisted of many varieties of the finest sorts 
obtainable and was displayed in the best 
possible condition. 
Entries were made in eleven classes for 
the advanced amateurs and in eight classes 
for the novice amateurs. The fine feature of 
this exhibition was the large number of en- 
tries made by various amateurs, some of 
whom possess splendid collections. Among 
the first prize winners were noted the follow- 
ing names: C. W. Bunn, A. C- Arny, A. E. 
Greaza, S. L. Titus, Frank Morris, A. F. Mc- 
Bride, GusD. Messing, R. H. Relf, J. W. James, 
Margaret Henry, Warren Hoff, Frank Wick- 
man, I. J. Swan and Mrs. P. F. Casey. 
The first Iris show, which is to be an annual 
event, was held on June 8th and 9th in the 
Northwestern Bank, Minneapolis, Minn., as 
described in the American Iris Society depart- 
ment in this issue. 
Being a member of the 1st Minnesota Field 
Artillery the writer was called to National 
Guard Encampment June 5th to 19th and as a 
consequence did not get an opportunity to visit 
the various Peony fields that had been pre- 
viously planned for, in fact was not permit- 
ted to enjoy my own garden. This was cer- 
tainly a bitter pill to swallow but there was 
no alternative, and I took my medicine with 
the rest. At any other period of the year it 
would haved proved a delightful outing in 
addition to the splended military training 
received in camp. We are hopeful that 
another year may prove more favorable and 
that the intense heat and down-pours exper- 
ienced when the Peony was in the height of 
bloom this season may be missing. 
THE IRIS. 
Spanish Irises for Cut Flowers. 
I read in The Flower Grower about 
the man who wants to grow Spanish 
Irises for cut flowers. If I were he I 
would grow only the following as those 
are not the most expensive and make 
good stems and large flowers, but they 
are not the very cheapest either. For 
yellows I would take : 
Cajanus— Very tall and clear, late. 
Chrysolora— Not as tall, for midseason. 
Bell Chinoise—A little shorter, early. 
WHITE. 
Queen Wilhelmina—T all and the earliest of all. 
British Queen— Is a little later. 
Blanche a fleur or Snowball— Late. 
BLUE. 
King of the Blues— The best of all blues. 
Darling- Early dark blue, but not too tall. 
LIGHT PINK OR LAVENDER OR LIGHT BLUE. 
Philomela— Cheap but good and tall. 
Louise - Very good. 
Flora— Extra fine, the finest of all Spanish Irises. 
Dutch Irises are almost identical to 
Spanish Irises, but earlier. 
Rembrandt Blue. 
Anton Man ve— Mauve, (are the two best.) 
Of course there are plenty more but 
those are the best I could recommend, 
^31)e Slower (Brower 
and I have grown Spanish Irises by the 
millions. In fact a million labeled bulbs 
were nothing to us each season. If a 
bronze variety is wanted take Thunder- 
bolt, as this is very handsome, tall and 
large, and Reconnaissance, is also very 
good but often substituted by a poorer 
bronze variety. All the varieties of- 
fered may be tried, but in the long run 
the above mentioned are the only ones 
to buy, as they are good for forcing, 
too. 
As for the newer varieties of the 
Spanish Irises, there are three which 
are worth trying : 
L' Unique— White and dark blue, very distinct. 
Longfellow— Very tall, light blue and large flowers. 
Walter T. Ware— Light yellow and large. 
But I don’t know whether these 
would be better payers than the other 
varieties for cut flowers as those first 
mentioned are hard to beat for that 
purpose. 
About the Dutch Iris, I only men- 
tioned two varieties, as I know they are 
fine, but there are many newer kinds in- 
troduced since I left Holland, and I 
could not very well tell about those as 
I have never seen them. Then there 
is another species : Iris Filefolia, very 
early, same flowers and bulbs as the 
Spanish Iris and very large flowers, 
especially the true type which is a good 
blue color, but there are also many 
seedlings now, but I don’t consider 
them much improved. Be sure to get 
them planted early in the fall and pro- 
tect them a little from frost with hay 
or straw. And get top roots, as they 
don’t cost much anyhow, but of course 
the bulbs will be higher now than a 
few years ago. John Zeestraten. 
A Visit to Mr. Fryer’s Iris Collection. 
Just how far a man is justified in 
going to see a collection of flowers de- 
pends largely upon his enthusiasm and 
his experience in seeing collections 
other than his own. For in seeing 
collections one should always take into 
consideration the conditions under 
which they are grown. Failure to do 
this often causes us to err in our judg- 
ment and gives us disappointment. 
No better opportunity or manner to 
study the conditions under which a 
collection is grown can be had than by 
motoring to the place and observing 
the plant life along the road side and 
the climate and soil which contribute 
to their abundance. For this reason, 
in accepting Mr. Fryer’s invitation to 
see his seedling Iris in bloom, I pre- 
ferred to drive three hundred miles to 
his very interesting and beautiful 
grounds near Mantorville, Minnesota. 
Arriving there at the height of the 
blooming season gave a rare oppor- 
tunity to judge some six hundred varie- 
ties which Mr. F ryer has saved from the 
many thousands of seedlings which he 
has grown. There is every evidence 
that he has had very clear and high 
ideals in his selections. Not attempting 
artificial hybridizing he has saved the 
seed from natural crossing of choice 
varieties. From the offspring of these 
he has saved only those showing 
quality. Transplanting these to rows 
where they are under his constant ob- 
servation he has studied them daily 
127 
and during the flowering period he 
visits them many times each day. 
If after further study he considers a 
variety of sufficient merit to meet his 
high standard it is named and saved 
to be propagated for the trade. In all 
his selections he considers that the 
plant must be a strong, clean grower, 
must not be a shy bloomer and must 
hold its flower stalk and individual 
flowers in a satisfactory manner. There 
is no danger that a Fryer seedling will 
be a weak plant or a shy bloomer. In- 
deed many of the seedlings which are 
thrown out by Mr. PTyer would meet 
with the approval of Iris growers espe- 
cially if grown under other conditions 
than those of the trial grounds. 
While Minnesota is ideal for germi- 
nating perennial seedlings, the long 
hard winters, the heavy snow fall and 
tardy springs have a tendency to 
weaken plants so that there is a heavy 
loss from rotting during and following 
the flowering season. For this reason 
Mr. Fryer does not grow so many of 
the standard Iris which are to be found 
elsewhere. 
Of his named varieties those show- 
ing his “ Glory Strain ” are of excep- 
tional merit. All these show bronze 
and copper shading tinged up to 
crimson and red. Fryer’s Glory, Dr. 
Andrist and Madison Cooper were espe- 
cially pleasing to the writer. 
He also has a number of new tall 
Irises of the pallida type ranging in 
color from lavender to purple with 
orange and gold beards. One of these, 
an exceptionally strong plant and large 
flower, he has named Big Ben. An- 
other named Miss Irish is very tall — 
nearly four feet of good clear color and 
velvety finish in both standards and 
falls. 
With so many varieties to compare 
it might be said by some that the vari- 
ations are not sufficiently distinct, but 
to a grower and to one acquainted with 
the flowers the variation is always ap- 
parent and in this collection every 
variety has distinction because the 
owner has a marked conception of 
harmony in color as well as an appre- 
ciation of value in strong contrasts be- 
tween standards and falls. 
Mr. Fryer has a large collection of 
standard varieties of Irises, Peonies, 
Phloxes, Gladioli and Delphiniums as 
well as seedlings of each. 
The writer feels well repaid in visit- 
ing him, in seeing his well kept grounds 
and he hopes that the flower growers 
and flower lovers will more often avail 
themselves of his cordial invitation 
which he extends to all to see his col- 
lection. 
Arthur E. Rapp. 
The index for Volume VI (1919) of 
The Flower Grower is now ready. 
Those wanting the index for Volume 
VI can have it by remitting 10c. in 
stamps. We are compelled to make 
this charge because every economy is 
necessary to enable us to hold the 
yearly subscription price of The 
Flower Grower at $1.00 per year, and 
the cost of printing the index is, in 
common with all other printing, ex- 
tremely high now. 
