GREETINGS../,?/- 1Q39 
This now seems like an Open Letter to many very good friends. Your response 
has been so friendly—so appreciative—that we wish we could print all of your letters. 
But if we did there would be room for little else in the catalog. Your attitude 
makes business a real pleasure for us, and we thank you most sincerely. 
We have some new pictures this year, made from kodachromes taken by us in our 
garden. They are not perfect but we believe they will give you a very fair idea of 
some of the newer irises. It is impossible by any description or even picture to 
show the true beauty of a flower. We can only approach an idea of the exquisite 
delicacy and freshness of the flower itself. And yet we have seen some pictures and 
some descriptions—so elaborately overdone—that they conjure up in our minds, 
visions that are more gorgeous than any flower has a right to be. if we let our¬ 
selves believe in them we are simply carried away. Neither our pictures nor our 
descriptions are that kind. We try not to be too “hearty in our approbation and 
la.ish in our praise” as Mr. Schwab puts it. We base our catalog descriptions on our 
own garden notes—so they change somewhat from year to year—and we try to tell 
how the flowers look to us. Very rarely we list a variety that has not yet bloomed 
here but we acknowledge this carefully, and give the originator credit for the descrip¬ 
tion. Other very important items beside color and size are also given—such as 
sabstar.ee, branching, hardiness and behavior of plant and bloom. No iris, no 
matter how large and beautiful it may be, is of garden value unless it has good 
growing and blooming habits. We are extremely careful in our records of Awards. 
No doubt there are some good irises that do not get such recognition even though 
they deserve it, but competition is very keen and those that do receive Awards must 
be outstanding. So we think they are important. 
So many people have written us of their appreciation of the A. I., S. ratings in 
our catalog that we are using them again this year. When five or more A. i. S. 
judges send in ratings on a new iris in one year, the average of these is published 
i.i the A. I. S. bulletin. This is a tentative rating which may change in succeeding 
years until twenty or more judges rate it in a given year, when, the average of all 
these becomes the permanent rating for that variety. This permanent rating can be 
changed only by a symposium. We consider an iris rated at 85 or over a very good 
iris and we do not highly recommend many that rate below this. Such great advances 
have been made in the bleeding of irises in the past ten years- that varieties much 
older than that have been superseded. Very few of the irises in our gardens have 
been in commerce more than ten yars. This and the high ratings should assuie you 
of our high standards. 
1 ERMS OF SALE — Please Read Carefully Before Ordering 
PLEASE ORDER EARLY—Orders are filled in rotation as received, beginning about 
July 1st, unless later date is specified. 
SPECIAL 10% DISCOUNT on all orders over $2.00 received before July 1st. 
POSTAGE PREPAID on all orders of $2.00 or more. For orders of less than $2.00 
add 15c for packing and postage. 
WE DO NOT SUBSTITUTE WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. Please add a few 
second choices in collections to save time and correspondence. 
TERMS—Cash with order—by check, draft or money order. 
WE GUARANTEE OUR STOCK TO BE STRONG, HEALTHY AND TRUE TO NAME 
AND TO REACH YOU IN FIRST CLASS CONDITION. 
GENEROUS EXTRAS WITH ALL ORDERS—ESPECIALLY EARLY ONES. 
SPECIAL DISCOUNT TO A. I. S. MEMBERS. 20% discount to all members cf 
the American Iris Society on orders of $10.00 or more. State clearly on your order 
that you are a member. 
JOIN THE AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY! $3.00 a year. We will send a special 
gift of $1.00 worth of iris—your choice—for every new membership sent to us this 
year. Make checks to us or Secretary of American Iris Society. Four fine Bulletins 
a year. 
