mane 2 FOR YOUR GARDEN CIRCUS—TRY IRIS MIDGETS 

Next we dry the roots of the Bearded Iris 
(other types are damp packed) to prevent their 
sweating and rotting while enroute to you. Our 
Kansas sun helps us out here—don’t get excited if 
the tops appearysomewhat 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 
ground for over a year, planted them and they bloom- 
ed. 

Packing materials are sky high, hence we use y 
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. Gelser 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 ELIVERIN’ 
will mellow through the winter). A couple of Ebuests 
modern tractors (one large and one small) 
gets the job done in short order. Proper soil 
fertilizers added at this time, makes for an 
ample supply of nutrients available to the 
an {7 plants during their growing season. Phos- 
gyr &, phate, nitrogen, potash and lime are used. 
; _* ; asp it eouiee to planting, we use a he 
A bee tary type garden tractor to thoroughly pul- i 
| PLOWIN. img Verize the soil and to open a furrow into i 
which the roots are planted by hand (1% to { 
2 inches deep for our locality) in rows 37” PLANTIN' : 
wide and about 10” apart in the row. Dwarf iris are planted closer (efjeiau: 
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.IS. Judge) 
MEMBER OF 
The American Iris Society o. 
The American Peony Society : 
American Farm Bureau Federation * 
The American Rock Garden Society 
The Iris Society (England)—Life Member | 
_ The American Horticultural Society 
Australian & New Zealand Iris Society—-Life Member 

