Page 2 FOR YOUR GARDEN CIRCUS—TRY IRIS MIDGETS 
Next we dry the roots of the Bearded Iris 
(other types are damp packed) to prevent thelr 
sweating and rotting while enroute to you. Our 
C Kansas sun helps us out here—don’t get excited if 
? the tops appear somewhat brown and dry—this in 
' no way impairs their later growth and blooming for 
you. On trial we have kept iris drying and out of the 
See te for over a year, planted them and they bloom- 
ed. 

Packing materials are sky high, hence we use 
many 2nd hand boxes saved for us by our local town merchants. We 
try to use excelsior (wood wool) for packing material but have found 
that dry straw and shredded paper do just as well, Cultural direc- 
tions are included with every order. George W. Geiser is the 
“box stuffer”. 

Finally to get the plants on their way to you we sack them 
in big mail sacks and rush them to our large mail box using a 
3 wheeled stake body motor scooter. One of these days the 
youngest member of the firm Cherie Jineen will be taking this 
job over (she was born Nov. 29th, 1948). 
Sandwiched in with all this activity, we have to get another 
patch or two plowed (we try to plow late in the fall so the ground 
will mellow through the winter). A couple of 
modern tractors (one large and one small) 
gets the job done in short order. Proper soil 
fertilizers added at this time, makes for on 
ample supply of nutrients available to the 
plants during their growing season. Phos- 
phate. nitrogen, potash and lime are used. 
Then it comes to planting, we use a ro- 
tary type garden tractor to thoroughly pul- 
verize the soil and to open a furrow into 
which the roots are planted by hand (1% to 
2 inches deep for our locality) in rows oie 
wide and about 10” apart in the row. Dwarf iris are planted closer 
of course. Every variety is labeled and further recorded in a master 
file kept in the office. 

Even then our work is not done for the plants have to be 
weeded the following spring (after planting in late fall) and 
throughout the summer. Constant cultivation makes for bigger and 
~ more healthy roots all of which are used to fill your orders. From 
such plantings we shipped over a quarter-million roots last season. 
Just ask our sweating Postman!!! 
Yours for more beautiful iris, 

Alice M. Geiser George W. Geiser Cherie J. Geiser 
Fern E. Geiser Melvin G. Geiser (Accredited A.I.S. Judge) 
ETH. M AM 
MEMBER OF 
The American Iris Society 
The American Peony Society 
North American Lily Society 
American Farm Bureau Federation 
The American Rock Garden Society 
The Iris Society (Bngland)—Life Member 
The American Horticultural Society 
Australian & New Zealand Iris Society—Life Member 
