December, 1918 Slower (Brower 123 
Hybridizing and Crossing the French Iris. 
By William Rollins. 
(Reprinted by permission from Horticulture, Boston.) 
PREPARING A GARDEN. 
We were speaking of raising new 
flowers and you said there would be 
more hybridizers among gardeners if 
simple well illustrated descriptions of 
how to treat the common garden flow- 
ers were easily accessible. In this let- 
ter an attempt will be made to remove 
this difficulty, for one of the most 
common, the Iris. No attempt at or- 
iginality is made, nor will authorities 
be cited. In the dealers’ catalogues 
the ordinary form of Iris is called Ger- 
man Iris, to distinguish it from the 
Japanese, the Spanish, the English and 
others. The designation German is a 
mistake, and should be abandoned. As 
this flower is the "bearing” of the royal 
house of France, the name French 
should be used instead of German. 
For ordinary use the terms Fleur de 
lis or Lilies of France are desirable. 
I prefer the latter, for it suggests the 
loveliness of lilies and the grace of the 
French, qualities combined in a high 
degree in the flower. Giving the plant 
its right colloquial name is now of im- 
portance for we are brothers with the 
French in the struggle against that 
savage ethical code of the Hun Over- 
lords. The Iris is truly Everyman’s 
Orchid. It equals the Peony, the Lily 
and the Rose, yes, even surpasses them 
in etherial loveliness. These require 
rich soil, great care and skill. The 
Iris will grow in gravel and flourish 
under the unskilled and intermittent 
care of children. Some varieties have 
a perfume of surpassing delicacy. 
What more can be asked of any flower ? 
When a plant has such charming quali- 
ties we cannot have it in too many 
varieties. Already there are on the 
market several hundred, and a few al- 
most perfect ones ; yet there is always 
a chance to breed others surpassing 
the finest ; the family is composed of 
so many unit characters new combina- 
tions may be very great. 
PREPARATION OF THE HYBRIDIZING 
GARDEN. 
The directions in this letter are 
applicable to the glacial drift soil of 
New England. In more favored re- 
gions this amount of preparation 
might not be necessary. For a one 
man garden, where Iris is not a spe- 
cialty, five or six thousand square feet 
are enough. Make the garden long 
and narrow rather than short and wide. 
One hundred by fifty feet is a good 
size. This size will give pleasant oc- 
cupation and at crossing time, last- 
ing here three weeks, you can find in- 
teresting work three hours a day. 
PLOWING AND CULTIVATING. 
Plow as soon in spring as the soil is 
in condition. What is more beautiful 
after the long winter of the north than 
the warm earth as it rolls, shining and 
smooth from the polished steel, sug- 
gesting the coming of new life, green 
fields and blossoms ? Get out muck 
from some depression in a deciduous 
forest, into which the leaves have 
washed for ages, waiting for your com- 
ing, that they may be turned into 
lovely flowers. Spread six inches deep 
over the plowed area. On top put one 
ton of ground limestone. Horse culti- 
vate once a week to keep down weeds. 
Early in this letter it was written Iris 
would grow in poor soil, but for a gar- 
den where we want to try for mutants 
or where crossing is to be done, much 
care should be given to the soil. Make 
it rich, light, and just moist enough. 
As some seasons are very dry and hot, 
arrange to have water run between the 
rows. Heat and dryness may shorten 
the blossom season one-half, yet we are 
told the garden Iris likes to be baked. 
It really likes ideal weather, and soil 
just moist enough that when taken in 
the hand and pressed together, clings 
lightly. This does not refer to the 
Japanese, which should be flowered in 
water but drained after blossoming, or 
to the water Irises. 
PREPARATION THE NEXT SPRING. 
In May, of the year after the first 
plowing, replow, harrow and spread 
on a thousand pounds of the following 
plant food. Slag phosphate— 750 lbs., 
the best sulphate of potash you can 
buy — 225 lbs., permanganate of potash 
— 25 lbs. Harrow until dirt, muck and 
chemicals are well mixed. Cultivate, 
to keep down weeds until planting 
time. The first week in August plow 
trenches lengthwise of the garden, 
running the plow both ways for each. 
Make them four feet apart. Rows with 
so much unused land seem wasteful of 
space and fertilizer. If the rows are 
nearer, the whiffletree of the cultivator 
in swinging from side to side will 
surely break off some of the flower 
stalks and later valuable seed pods. 
Its name— whiffle (meaning to sway 
from side to side), shows this. The 
ends of this bar, generally of wood, 
should be sloped backward, rounded 
and polished, that in striking a stalk it 
may slip past, displacing, not breaking 
it. 
PLANTING. 
Before planting cut the leaves to 
within six inches of the rhizomes. Set 
the plants from one foot to eighteen 
inches according to the kind of growth 
they will make. Press the soil about 
the roots, with the feet, leaving the 
rhizomes two inches below the surface. 
Many years ago, someone seeing a 
matted and old bed of Iris, with the 
rhizomes half out of the ground, 
thought this was the way Iris liked to 
grow. This idea getting into garden 
literature, and dealers’ catalogues, 
stuck there. Really the appearance 
was a sign of a neglected bed. Always 
transplant before this state is reached. 
Rows should be kept narrow to ensure 
quick weeding. Matted rows are a 
nuisance and an expense. In bending 
over the outside stalks in weeding or 
crossing to reach the plants inside, 
some of the outside flowers and later, 
some of the valuable seed pods will 
surely be broken off. 
A garden for crossing is a distinct 
proposition from an artist’s garden, 
where flowers are grown in great 
masses of one color, different colors 
being grouped to produce a harmoni- 
ous effect. Such gardens are indeed 
art as much as painted pictures. Some 
of the great gardeners produce won- 
derful effects in this style. Such gar- 
dens require much labor and are ex- 
pensive. 
[ To be Continued. ] 
Bound Volumes as 
a Reference Library. 
The four bound volumes of The 
Modern Gladiolus Grower (1914 to 
1917 inclusive) contain more useful 
information regarding the Gladiolus, 
its culture, history and improvement 
than can be had from any other source. 
These four bound volumes also contain 
much useful information about other 
summer-flowering plants, but the Gladi- 
olus is especially well covered. These 
volumes contain the W. W. Wilmore, 
Jr., articles entitled, “The Gladiolus 
Manual.” All information is quickly 
available by means of an index in each 
volume, and those who are interested 
in studying the subject cannot afford 
to be without these bound volumes. 
There has been no advance in the 
price. We are still furnishing the four 
volumes postage prepaid for $5.00. 
Furnished separately at the same rate, 
$1.25 each. Those who are interested 
in studying the practical and scientific 
features in connection with growing 
Gladioli should surely have a complete 
file. 
Gysophilas. 
The sprays of the well known “Baby’s 
Breath,” Gysophila elegans, are light and 
airy and of great value in bouquet and de- 
sign work. There is a double form, which 
is best propagated by division of the roots 
or by cutting the roots in pieces and start- 
ing them in sand under glass in the same 
way as Anemone japonica. Seed of the 
double form is sometimes advertised and a 
small proportion will come true. Occasional 
doubles may also be expected from sowings 
of the single form. The double variety has 
a much whiter appearance than the single 
and is preferred in the wholesale flower 
markets. 
It is well to plant Gysophilas, especially 
the double ones, on land with a gentle slope. 
Some growers lost a number of their plants 
last winter on level ground. Thorough 
drainage being given, severe cold will not 
harm them. A sowing of G. paniculata can 
be made advantageously now. The dwarf 
creeping form, G. repens , is a splendid sub- 
ject for the edge of walks. It is earlier 
than G. paniculata and has larger, pearl- 
white flowers. — Florists ’ Review. 
