able to speak in commendatory terms of the rating 
systems of the American Iris Society because of the 
manifest unfairness of these methods of rating as they 
work out. The American Iris Society reoresents a 
small minority of the gardeners of the United States 
who love and grow irises, and yet it purports to be the 
authoritative spokesman for the iris world. 
This would be all well and good and altogether 
desirable if the spokesman spoke wisely and well and 
with judgment. In our opinion the voice of official 
irisdom, as expressed in ratings, has not spoken any 
too wisely or well and often most unfairly. The present 
system we think the worst and most unfair yet insti¬ 
tuted. We refer to the system which now arbitrarily 
rates irises by classes rather than by figures, although 
based on figures which are not made public. Figures 
can be more truly read and estimated. We now rate 
irises by classes indicated by letters A, B, C and D—■ 
in other words, first, second, third and fourth rate 
irises. The frail margin of one point in the point score 
can and does label an iris first or second class and 
results in the most unfair classification that could 
well be devised. 
We defy anybody to define or point out a point’s 
difference in a score of 100 points wherein there is no 
fixed standard or value and which small difference 
can label an iris second rate without sense, rhyme or 
reason, as it appears to us. 
Although the ratings of 1934 have not been prom¬ 
ulgated so far as we can learn, we find in a late 
Bulletin of the American Iris Society a list of varietal 
comments purporting to come from the accredited 
judges of the society in which the letter classification 
is published for some of the irises. We find some of 
the finest irises relegated to the "B”, or second rate, 
class, while others that a tyro in irises would unhesi¬ 
tatingly pass by for those of the second rate classi¬ 
fication listed as "A", or first class. 
We refer particularly to Dr. Ayres’ beautiful new 
ones, Cheerio and Burning Bronze, listed as second 
rate in this published commentary. If these two irises 
are not at the top of their color class and type, what 
are the better ones? Not wishing to make too invidious 
comparisons, we ask every fair-minded iris grower to 
look at these two irises and at the red irises rated as 
first class in this list and draw his own conclusions. 
We wish right here and now to declare ourselves 
against any such method of rating as now conducted 
and against all ratings unless some fair and reasonable 
basis can be found for making them. We have extreme 
doubts if any such basis ever can be found because of 
the differing behavior of the same iris under varying 
conditions of soil and climate, even when growing 
only a few miles apart. 
We lift up our voice against murder by technicality 
and technicalities are killing fine irises so long as such 
ratings are given publicity. 
The methods of judging, as we have viewed them 
in our garden, seem to us to be open to considerable 
criticism. The judges often travel about the garden in 
groups holding what look like autopsies on an iris. 
The ratings reached at these conferences are prac¬ 
tically all the same and generally influenced by the 
opinion of one or two members of the group. A lot of 
judges are merely registering somebody else's judge¬ 
ment, not their own. 
This ‘‘ganging up” on an iris, in our opinion, is in 
no way conducive to fair ratings and does not record 
individual judgements of the accredited judges who 
should be competent to form their own opinions and 
ratings, and as a matter of duty should do so without 
the assistance, prejudice or influence of other judges. 
We also hear much protest and advice to judges not 
to rate an iris on a first year division. We know of no 
good reason for such advice, as the plant will indicate 
by its general growth or appearance whether it has 
made its full and complete growth to any experienced 
iris eye. A first year division is as likely to provide 
the best bloom of which the plant is capable as a 
three or four-year-old clump. It is merely a matter of 
making the planting early enough in the season, give 
proper culture and allow the new division to make a 
full season's growth. It can make this even more fully 
than it can in a mass of rhizomes of an old clump. 
By far the largest part of our plantings seen at 
Freeport every year are one-year divisions, but we 
