an Pp 
IRIS 
"THE LILY OF THE FIELD" 
CONSIDER THE LILY OF THE FIELD 
X X I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT EVEN 
SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY WAS 
NEVER ARRAYED AS ONE OF THESE. 
In our list you will find most of 
the good, reasonably priced iris and 
a goodly number of the newer, more ex- 
pensive, introductions, There are some 
two thousand varieties in commerce 
today and a hundred or more new ones 
being introduced each year. Of all 
this great mass of varieties only a 
hundred or two are worth ones consi- 
' deration, the rest being old, obsolete 
relics of a bygone age, or, mediocre 
newer varieties with which we, person- 
ally have but little patience. A high 
price adds nothing to the real merits 
of any iris, neither does the enthusi- 
asm of the inexperienced nor the most 
eloquent catalog description. One iris 
variety is superior to another, of 
Similar type or color, only in so far 
as it is, in reality, more beautiful 
in flower and better in plant charac- 
teristics. Probably no other garden 
flower has hag so much effort and skill 
concentrated upon it during the past 
decade as the iris. Certainly no other 
garden flower has been improved to 
such a remarkable extent. The skilled 
iris hybridists of this country, and 
those abroad, have given us many, many 
fine new iris - such vastly improved 
varieties that today the mediocre, either 
old or new, are completely unnecessary. 
It takes just as much room, just as much 
care, to grow a poor commonplace variety 
as it does to grow one of the big flow- 
ered, vividly colored,amazingly beautiful 
new ones. We have been growing iris for 
many years — more than we care to think 
about any more - and are constantly 
revising our list, eliminating older 
varieties as soon as a better one of 
similar type or color is available at 
a reasonable price. We consider it good 
business to see and evaluate as many 
of the new varieties as possible ~ to 
separate the wheat from the chaff, and 
to offer only those that measure up to 
the high standards of today. If we do 
not list some particular variety it does 
not necessarily follow that we do not 
know that variety, It may be that we 
have seen it and passed it by, or grown 
it and discarded it in favor of a bet- 
ter one. We prefer to offer a list of 
better varieties rather than a long, 
long list that represents little more 
than an accumulation of the good, bad 
and indifferent. 
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