I FOR BOTH AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL | 
| GROWERS OF THE GLADIOLUS, DAHLIA, IRIS, ETC. f 
| Entered as second-class matter March 31, 1914, at post office at | 
= Calcium, N.Y., under act of March 3, 1879. § 
f PUBLISHED MONTHLY ON THE FIRST OF THE j 
f MONTH BY MADISON COOPER, CALCIUM, N. Y. j 
| Subscription price : Three years, $2.00 ; One year, $1.00. 
Improving the Iris for Garden Effect. 
By Grace Sturtevant. 
[Written expressly for '7 be flower Grower . ] 
T HE BEARDED or Pogoniris with 
their bold foliage and large 
blooms of almost every hue 
have been a hobby of mine for 
a number of years but it was with the 
discovery that seedlings were not at 
all difficult to raise, and the results in- 
finite in variety, that the real joy of 
creating new and finer varieties de- 
veloped ; the pleasure made greater 
by the fascination, and anticipation, 
through the uncertainty of the result. 
I plant many chance seeds because I 
cannot resist saving those that set on 
my fine varieties but it is from artifi- 
cially pollenated seed that most of the 
finest flowers have come. Fine stock 
is as well worth using in Iris as in any 
line of breeding and I select varieties 
for crossing that have the desired 
characters in growth, shape, size or 
good branching habit ; the color can- 
not well be predetermined except where 
flowers of similar color and tone are 
used, then the chances are that the 
seedlings will resemble the parents. 
Empire, a yellow, for example, is a 
cross between the dark purple Mon- 
signor and Aurea. It has the growth 
and form of the former but is a shade 
darker yellow than the latter. Any at- 
tempt at planning for a certain result 
entails, of course, the comparison and 
study of many careful records. 
When the seed is ripe it is gathered 
and dried and then planted in the seed 
bed, which is mapped and marked off 
into 8 inch squares. Each pod has a 
square to itself and is recorded when 
planted ; in the spring the tiny seedlings 
are transplanted to their appointed 
places where they are to bloom and 
when they flower each receives judg- 
ment on its corresponding card and 
the good ones a full sheet descrip- 
tion. 
In describing and recording colors I 
use “ Robert Ridgeway’s Color Stand- 
ards and Nomenclature ” and find it a 
necessity. I only wish that it might be 
universally used for catalogue descrip- 
tions. The terms seem complex to be 
sure, but Raisin Purple, for instance, 
GLADIOLUS— GLORY OF NOORDWIJK. 
Originated by Alkemade in Holland, and exhibited 
in London for the first time in 1913. The color is a 
soft canary yellow, some call it a Naples yellow. It 
is overlaid on the edge of the petals with rosy pink. 
The flowers are large and of graceful form and sev- 
eral are open at one time giving a very beautiful 
effect. 
We understand that Glory of Noordwijk is one of the 
yellows that is difficult to grow, but we have no direct 
information from those who are growing it in this 
country. 
may carry as clear a conception of the 
true color as the hackneyed blackish 
violet and it does permit of other than 
actual comparison of plants in flower. 
I have many hundreds of records but 
not yet can I put my finger on the 
dominant traits in Iris in the Mendelian 
sense. Venation on the falls is usually 
dominant but in all other respects ten- 
dencies only can be traced and then 
only in special cases ; pallida seifs seem 
almost a pure strain (the number in- 
troduced of similar coloring bears this 
out) ; Trojana seedlings are usually 
deep toned bicolors. Oriflamme often 
gives a flower with wide spread seg- 
ments ; the shape of Pallida speciosa is 
very common ; Caterina almost in- 
variably gives a blend if venation is 
not present in the other parent, and 
very frequently a most undesirable 
flexuous stem. Two pinks often give 
pink, but that usually follows in the 
clearer colors, where they are dulled 
or clouded a more complex lineage is 
indicated and the result is apt to be 
more varied as the strong points of the 
various ancestors crop out ; and so it 
goes, each is a mere sign post that 
points the way and just as you seem to 
be on the right road a seedling de- 
velops that does not belong. The in- 
dividual variety with its many inherited 
factors must be tried out in its progeny. 
In my crossing I have dealt almost en- 
tirely with the pogoniris group, there 
is sufficient interest for a life time and 
a wide field for improvement among 
the present trade varieties, and this 
group seems of greatest garden value. 
The nomenclature of the Japanese 
Irises is most confused and personally 
they do not appeal. The Siberian group 
has a comparatively narrow range of 
color and all seed so freely and come 
so true from seed that one’s interest 
slackens. The interesting Pogon-Re- 
gelia hybrids (Hamadan, Paracina] etc., 
and the soft-colored hybrids of the 
Reglio-cyclus group are still a little dif- 
ficult of garden culture. I dream of a 
Bearded Iris with the venation of 
Susiana or Korolkowi but it is still a 
dream. 
I demand much of a seedling before 
it receives a name and the score card 
