96 
1 THE IRIS. 
Iris Kaempferi. 
( Written expressly fer The Flower Grower. ] 
This valuable contribution to the Iris 
family introduced from Japan, differs 
in form and in the time and length of 
its season of bloom from most other 
sorts of Iris. There are both single 
and double varieties and they show a 
marvelous range in their coloring, 
blending delicately from pure snow 
white to a deep, rich plum color and 
royal purple. Their blooming season 
being later than the ordinary varieties, 
the flowers coming when there is a 
dearth of bloom in the garden, makes 
them especially welcome and desirable 
for cutting and other decorative pur- 
poses. 
The plant can readily be started 
from seeds or from a division of the old 
clumps; seedlings usually blooming 
the third year after sowing. In plant- 
ing roots, place them in rich, moist 
soil, about as deep as they were before 
transplanting, with the crown quite 
near to the surface. Resetting can be 
done with success at almost any time 
during the growing season, providing 
that it is done early enough to give the 
plants an opportunity to become well 
rooted before frost. 
Though the Japanese Iris will do well 
if exposed to full sunlight, a situation 
in which there is some protection from 
the rays of the sun during the hottest 
part of the day, is more desirable. 
Once well established, the Japanese 
Iris will increase and bloom profusely, 
a strong clump oftentimes sending up 
from ten to twelve immense flower 
stalks, each crowned with a cluster of 
magnificent blossoms, each from five 
tosix inches across. 
By resetting the plants occasionally, 
and not permitting weeds and grass to 
encrouch upon them, a bed of Iris 
Kcempferi will last a life time- a thing 
of beauty and a joy forever.” 
Bertha Berbert-Hammond. 
Planting Hardy Irises. 
It is recommended that soon after 
blooming time hardy Irises may be 
divided and reset to advantage. The 
well known German Iris, which some 
now call the Liberty Iris, are among 
the types which do well with early 
planting. If divided during July or 
August or early September, they be- 
come established and will give good 
bloom the next year after planting. A 
change in soil is beneficial for best re- 
sults. 
The Japanese Iris can also be divided 
and replanted as soon as the blooming 
season is over. This Iris especially, 
requires abundant moisture at the roots 
until after the flowering period. After 
it has flowered less water will answer 
and it must not have wet feet in winter. 
Transplanting should be done during 
moist weather and preferably on cloudy 
days. 
t3I )<£ Slower (Brower 
Care must be exercised not to use 
fresh manure in the soil with the Iris 
as over-fertilizing may be fatal. 
Cypripedium reginae 
(Orchid Family.) 
Common name, Showy Lady's-Slipper or 
Moccasin Flower.* 
In this section (Central New York) 
there are four varieties; the pink, the 
white, the yellow and the showy. The 
pink variety is the most common and 
the showy the rarest. In fact this va- 
riety is so rare that many lifelong- 
nature students have never seen one 
growing. The habitat of the specimen 
photographed'is known to only two or 
three persons. The place is kept secret 
Showy Orchid ( Lady’s-Slipper). The rarest of our 
native orchids. Unique in that it has triple blooms 
instead of the usual single bloom. 
because the owner is well aware that 
if it became generally known the 
orchids would soon be exterminated. 
The showy lady’s-slipper grows in 
swampy situations, frequently actually 
in the water. The plants are from one 
to two feet in height, closely covered 
with alternate, elliptic, acutely pointed, 
coarsely ribbed leaves, from four to 
seven inches long. The sepals are 
round ovate in form, and white in 
color. The petals, which are some- 
what smaller than the sepals, are also 
white. The inflated lip, or pouch, is 
white, variegated with purplish stripes. 
The blossoms are from three to three 
and one-half inches long, and are borne 
from one to three on a stalk. 
*We are indebted to Mr. Geo. W. Harris in charge 
of the Government Experiment Farm at Baldwins- 
ville, N Y for the photograph and description of the 
showy orchids. 
There is still time to divide the Iris, Phlox, 
Peonies, and a large variety of hardy peren- 
nials. The Peony will do well undisturbed 
for from ten to twenty years, but most of 
the perennials require division as often as 
once in three years in order to do their best ; 
and a few like the Shasta Daisy and Japanese 
Iris will actually die out if not divided as 
September, 1918 
often as every other year. In planting per- 
ennials, and also the bulbs above mentioned, 
it is always important to select a spot where 
water will not stand and freeze through the 
winter. So far as the ground is concerned, 
this is almost the only thing that they will 
not endure. All of them, without exception, 
will be improved by some slight covering or 
mulching over winter. This is not to keep 
them warm, but rather to keep them cold 
and prevent the sun from thawing too early 
in the spring. — Clarence Wedge in The 
Farmer. 
Roses and Vegetables out of Season. 
The profitable specialty of a New England 
man is Roses out of season. Originally the 
owner of greenhouses at Brighton near Bos- 
ton, this man learned a thousand and one 
things about the successful culture and sale 
of roses. Then he bought land in Southern 
New Hampshire, close to a trunk railroad, 
and, knowing his ground, branched out. In 
a few years his shipments of Roses at Mem- 
orial Day time were 20,000 a day. 
The first greenhouse built in New Hamp- 
shire was 800 by 50 feet and was devoted 
entirely to American Beauty Roses. This 
plant was ou'grown in four years, and an- 
other greenhouse, 1,340 by 60 feet, was 
erected, giving 125,000 square feet under 
glass. Simultaneously a general farm was 
es'ablished, the manure from fifty Holsteins 
kept being largely used in the greenhouse. 
The farm force eventually numbered forty 
persons, some of them highly paid experts. 
American Beauties were produced entirely 
for a number of years, when market de- 
mands led to the addition of four or five 
other varieties. The aim was to have the 
largest possible number of Roses lor sale 
when the demand was greatest and prices 
highest, and in this the farm was singularly 
successful. Each year 30,000 plants were 
rais?d. There are numerous possibilities 
little appreciated by the average person in 
the production of flowers and vegetables for 
sale out of season. The most obvious means 
is the greenhouse, employed by the Rose 
specialist mentioned with such profitable 
results. In the Pacific Northwest is a mar- 
ket gardener who sells head lettuce from 
summer until after frosts, during which time 
he has practically no competition. Of an in- 
ventive turn, this man saw the possibilities 
in a combination of irrigation, which would 
enable him to grow lettuce through the dry 
summer months, and muslin frames, which 
would protect the lettuce from the hot sun, 
its greatest enemy, and later from frosts. 
He put his ideas into practice, experimented 
as much as was necessary, and made good. 
— J. T. B. in Rural Life. 
American Gladiolus Society. 
Owing to lack of space no report is 
made in this issue of the annual meet- 
ing of the American Gladiolus Society, 
but we expect in the October issue to 
give a full report of the meeting in- 
cluding the president’s address and 
the secretary’s report. We have usu- 
ally included the write-up of the flower 
show and the annual meeting under 
one report or article, but this month 
we are dividing it so as to enable us to 
give a more complete report of the an- 
nual meeting. 
Catalogues and Price Lists. 
V. Lemoine & Son, Nancy, France Catalogue and 
price list of Delphiniums and Peonies, seven page* 
printed in English with prices. Brief descriptions 
are given of each variety. 
The Oronogo Flower Gardens. Carthage, Mo — An 
especially well gotten up catalogue and price list 
Narcissi, Tulips and Irises, twelve pages. 
