vice for war, o^ erseas, and that within a couple 
of months, he expected to be in France and 
voluntarily offered to write me of interesting 
things he might find in European gardens. ITe 
did not forget this promise and in one of his 
letters, he told me that he had taken advantage 
of a furlough to visit two excellent gardens near 
Paris. 
In the first one, known as the Vilmorin Gar¬ 
dens, he found a larger, more brilliant iris than 
he had ever seen before. Its color approached 
red and its name was ‘\MBASSADETJR*’. In 
the other garden, belonging to ATr. Millet, he 
found a rich blue-purple iris of great size and 
excellent substance, bearing the name “ATA- 
DAATE GAUDICHAIJ”. He suggested that I 
immediately make application to the National 
Government for permission to inpiort these ex¬ 
cellent iris. Ellis, of course, I was very glad to 
do. In my letter, thanking him for this infor¬ 
mation, I told him that upon his return we would 
form an American Iris Society, and that I would 
take it upon myself to see that he was made its 
first president. 
Within 18 months Mr. Wister had returned 
to the United States, and certain well known iris 
lovers had been called together to form the new 
organization. As I happened to be chairman of 
the nominating committee, I was very glad to 
have the opportunity to make good my promise 
that Mr. Wister should be made the first presi¬ 
dent of the new American Iris Society. 
It was perfectly natural that at this meeting, 
Mr. Wister should tell of his visits to the French 
Gardens and of the two splendid iris, Ambassadeur 
and Aladame Gaudichau, which he had found 
in them. Consequently, they received a great 
