BULBOUS IRIS 
FOR FORCING 
The largest and most perfect bulbs are hardly good enough for 
forcing. Iris are capricious, to say the least. Their behaviour under glass 
varies very greatly from year to year. They don't like their roots dis- 
turbed, not even the roots which come through the pot holes or cracks 
of the flats. Those which had their roots hurt a little, flower 2 weeks later, 
if at all. They need much water until the buds are showing. Forcing slowly 
in maximum 60° F. seems safest for most of them. If you have a failure, 
don't blame the bulbs, or you will never learn to force Iris. If bulbs of 
the indicated size are used, 90% of the occasional failures are due to 
ignorance or accident in handling Iris. You can prove that by planting 
some outdoors, When they bloom right, you know that something in the 
forcing method caused the failure indoors. All the varieties except Wedg- 
wood are hardy. Relative time of flowering is indicated after each 
variety ( ). 
Not long ago a grower discovered that on a bench planted with Iris 
Wedgwood a certain spot on the bench was growing much faster, more 
vigorous and with deeper green foliage than the rest of the Iris on the 
bench, Upon investigation he found that at that particular spot there was 
a leakage in the warm water pipes which produced a constant fine spray 
of water and steam there on the Wedgwood. Before this warm water fell 
on the plants it was sufficiently cooled by the air in the greenhouse so it 
would not do any harm to the foliage. The result was that on this spot 
blooms came about 2-3 weeks earlier, and were taller and had a deeper 
color than the rest of the Iris on the bench which were watered with 
water out of the faucet. This shows conclusively that Iris like warm water, 
and do not respond as well to cold water. 
F. O. B. Salisbury, Md., Per 1,000 
WEDGWOOD, (1), light blue, 10 cm. for earliest... SWRA 2 
‘ zs "9-10 cm. for February... eaten 
ss ii *.  6:9cm, forilater.22 eee 
A. BLOEMAARD, (2), clear blue, 8-9 crm ncn cence mea. 
BLUE HORIZON, (3), tall purple blue, 8-9 Crm. nmennennnenee  ceemeeeneen 
GOLDEN EMPEROR, (3), tall golden yellow, large flower, 
one of the best yellows today, 8-9 COM enavnccvcvssnenecenennmnenene os te 
EARLY SNOW, (2), pure white, 8-9 cient Ronee! 
GOLDEN WONDER, (3), large pure yellow, 8-9 cm... eso 
HUCHTENBURG, (3), light blue, white and yellow, 8-9 cm... 
IMPERATOR, (4), deep blue, 8-9 Crean ncecmrnccnnsneeneeneetnennmemeneme nes 
J. W. de WILDE, (3), deep yellow, 7-8 ren cecececcneccnneeecnceenncen pee latth 
JACOB de WIT, (3), deep purple blue, 8-9 cre nn ennncenenne nid ieee 
J. ©. VAN VLIET, (3), tall deep purple blue, extra large 
flower, one of the. best, 8-9 ctr ccccecemecmeem cece eccee ee tereee els Sener 
POGGENBEEK, (3), uniform dark blue, 8-9 Crmeccccccncmcccceceecnenee Bas Nine 2 
40 
