NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST—NATURE’S TREASURE CHEST Page 1 
Now a word about our show gardens. We don’t maintain | 
fancy exhibition plots. We have found that we can spend too 
‘much time and money keeping such things up—the cost of which 
would have to be passed on to you flower lovers. Hence when 
you come around, bring your hiking shoes (and maybe over- 
shoes) and an ample lunch for you won’t be able to make the | 
rounds all in 10 minutes. In one day last year we had over 1,750 
visitors—if you pay us a visit try to come on some day other 
than Sunday to avoid the crowd. 
ing time to insure your getting what you want. 
Then too we offer extra Premiums for early 


Many have asked how life runs on an Iris Farm. In the 
first place there are many long hours—no quitting at 4 PM 
and starting at 9 A.M. actually this business is closely akin to 
farming (we were wheat farmers prior to going crazy on our 
present hobby). During the early spring and summer we like 
to receive your order g ae. 

early so we can process 
it ahead of the summer 
rush. Plant orders unlike 
other commodities must 
be placed ahead of plant- 
orders—see inside back cover. In addition to i 
writing up your order, we also write labels for 
each and every plant you order. Every order is fe 
TIN’ 
der in January for immediate delivery—we have snow up here in 
Kansas and are usually froze up then. However, we did dig one or- 
der for 200 roots on January 4th this year during a 1 day thaw and 
sent them off to an “iris bug” down in Texas. We usually can start 
digging around March Ist. 

CABELIN’ 
Well, sir after getting those iris dug, we top them right in the 
field with a pair of those big horse mane shears—do a good job too. 
Surprisingly enough, we have never been able to tell any difference Nv 
in “short topped” or “long topped” iris. Hence we cut them medium ~~ 
short to save on boxing and postage (this savings is thereby passed “TOPPIN r. 
on to you in FREE Premiums—see inside back cover) abs Sen 

given a number and this & 
aumber also appears on each faeeee 
plant label for later assem- | 
bling and packing of the in- 
dividually dug roots. Alice 
M. Geiser (Mrs. G. W. Gei- 
ser) gets in on this job. 

We try to make every order a fresh dug 
order—no machine dug roots as we have found 
tnat this injures too many plants. But you peo- 
ple “down South,” please don’t send us an or- 

Now as to labeling those roots. Some firms dig a quantity 
of each root and then bring them into an assembly shed where 
the roots are individually labeled. We have found that this 
method takes a chance on a root being taken from the wrong 
basket and thereby being incorrectly labeled, hence we label 
the plants as we dig them right in the field. Our crew of local 
high school boys are expert at this job (it keeps us busy super- 
vising the office and the packing shed). Incidentally if you 
want some permanent labels, we have some very fine ones both 
aluminum and plastic types. You will find them listed elsewhere 
in this catalog. 
. 

