178 
Slower (Brower 
November, 1920 
branched, tall and floriferous, but — do 
we need them ? And if we don’t how 
can we improve our present varieties ? 
Mary Garden I find in this list also and 
let it stand, though as one of the first 
out-of-the-ordinary plicatas it has been 
of value. Have you noticed how many 
of the more recent introductions have 
left the old familiar pallida plicata, 
those that are white with frillings in 
lavender shades, and now show touches 
of brown, or bronze, in similar mark- 
ings. Pancrojt is such a one, a plicata 
in its markings but of such a peachy, 
creamy hue, the first year it was poor. 
Mr. Wing tells me that it did not show 
up well with him, but this year I saw 
it in perfection and quite fell in love 
with its delicacy. Mme. Chobau is an 
almost coppery plicata, but on so pure 
a ground that 1 think it will prove a 
favorite. I have, however, spoken of 
these odd plicatas elsewhere. Some 
people, Mr. Bliss included, like the 
heavy border of Mme. Chereau or Poca- 
hontas and among his seedlings you 
will find some lovely things of this 
type, but personally I prefer less of 
actual coloring and find Jeanne d! Arc 
or Ma Mie pleasing. In these older 
types there can be few very distinctive 
new things, nor in fact among the lav- 
ender pallidas, or lavender bi-colors, 
but there is, and will continue to be, 
great improvements in size and car- 
riage, branching or height, and if you 
learn to appreciate such details there is 
pleasure ahead. 
Just a word on the Iris at this sea- 
son. Practice varies. Some of you 
will be preparing a light covering of 
leaves or straw. Mr. Williamson, in 
Indiana, will be burning over his beds 
as a sanitary precaution and leaving 
them bare for the winter. I shall not 
chance this with the Trojana and Cyp- 
riana hybrids that show a winter 
growth of green, but 1 do like to clean 
my beds of all dying Iris leaves and 
weeds. Then, if it is a light soil, every- 
thing is ready for spring, but if it is 
heavy I shall take warning from last 
winter’s losses and cover enough to 
prevent heaving by frost. Now, too, I 
like to make a last hunt for rot because 
with a wet season it will gain much 
headway. Mrs. E. P. McKinney recom- 
mends dipping the infected roots in a 
solution of corrosive sublimate 1-1000 ; 
I dust with powdered sulphur, and 
others try various solutions, but withal 
I can’t help thinking that nine-tenths 
of the trouble is due to too much mois- 
ture at the roots and slowly my Irises 
are gravitating to the driest and sun- 
niest sites I possess. If you haven’t 
such, try planting on ridges or little 
mounds above the general level. 
REGISTRATION. 
Orchid— Pale yellow flashed with purple. J. Marion 
Shull. 
Pensamiento — Perfection type. J. Marion Shull. 
Solatia — Yellow and chestnut maroon. J. Marion 
Shull. 
Robert S. Sturtevant, Sec’y. 
The Iris can be planted any month 
in the year when the ground can be 
worked. There is no flower that is so 
persistent of life as the Iris, and it will 
bear transplanting most any time. 
Yellow Iris — Virginia Moore. 
An account of the new Bearded Iris, 
Virginia Moore, a new yellow self which 
this year received a Certificate of Hon- 
orable Mention of the American Iris 
Society, as already noted in this paper, 
and which won the highest prize offered 
at the Takoma Park Iris Show at Wash- 
ington, D. C., may prove of interest to 
readers of The Flower Grower. It 
was originated and ^introduced by the 
writer : 
Iris — Virginia Moore. 
Single bloom a little less than half natural size. 
Virginia Moore is tall as compared 
with other yellow seifs, attaining a 
height of 34", with flowers well distrib- 
uted as shown in the accompanying 
photograph. The flowers, while not of 
extreme size, have measured up to 4 f 
inches across as they naturally stand 
and without any special feeding or 
fertilizing, which makes it much larger 
than Mrs. Neubronner or Sherwin 
Wright, and as large or larger than 
Aurea or Flavescens at their best; but 
in color neither of the latter approach 
the clear lemon chrome (Ridgeway) of 
Virginia Moore, a beautiful yellow 
identical with that of the Lemon Lily, 
Hemerocallis flava, with which its 
flowers may be directly mingled and 
no difference of color detected. There 
is no tendency toward orange as in 
Mrs. Neubronner and the standards of 
so many variegatas. 
But with all this it is not the perfect 
yellow Iris that we all hope for some 
time, though a long step toward it. 
One could wish for falls as free from 
veining as are the standards, but this 
is probably unobtainable from varie- 
gata sources, as is also true of the 
paler ground area just beyond the tip 
of the beard. However, in well de- 
veloped specimens of Virginia Moore 
the veins are no more conspicuous or 
objectionable than in Mrs. Neubronner 
and, except for the connoisseur’s bloom 
at close range, this defect, if we must 
call it that, is negligible. 
Virginia Moore was derived from 
Orchid pollinated by Honorabilis; 
Orchid in turn being a very vigorous 
offspring of Her Majesty likewise polli- 
nated by Honorabilis, the color of 
Orchid being an indescribable blend of 
sienna yellow and purple flashings 
without specific markings or veining, 
greatly unlike either parent yet com- 
bining the elements of both. 
Well grown stems of Virginia Moore 
carry three branches besides the ter- 
minal with normally twelve flowers 
thus insuring a long blooming period ; 
this year the original planting ran 
twenty-six days from first to last bloom. 
In addition it is an unusually rampant 
grower producing in its first year a 
single flower stem and one year later 
eighteen, permitting its division at 
that time into more than forty plants 
While this new yellow self will doubt- 
less find its greatest use in outside 
mass effect rather than as a cut flower 
it would be hard to find a lovelier con- 
iris — Virginia Moore. 
The upper 19 inches of a 34 inch stem. 
trasting combination than a dozen 
stems of Virginia Moore with a couple 
stems of Celeste or some other light 
blue pallida. 
J. Marion Shull. 
One of our subscribers asks us to 
give the experience of large flower 
growers with garden tractors. Any 
suggestions along this line which can 
be sent us will be gratefully received. 
We believe in the power farming idea, 
and that it is the coming thing, but 
whether it is practicable at the present 
time or not, for the small garden trac- 
tors is a question. This is surely the 
age of machinery and machinery 
should be utilized to perform opera- 
tions requiring power. Man power 
and horse power should be used only 
where intelligence is required. Com- 
paratively few people are willing to 
labor in contact with the soil anyway 
and it is absolutely necessary to utilize 
power wherever possible. 
