The Story Behind and bout Dr. Stout's Daylilies 
DR. A. B. STOUT 
HOW TO JUDGE A DAYLILY 
1—IS IT HARDY? Will it survive in sub-zero 
temperatures? In poor soil? In spite of neglect ? 
2—HOW LONG DOES IT BLOOM? The number 
of bloom buds to a stem equals the approximate 
number of days of bloom. Some Daylilies bloom 
for more than a month. Others for only several 
weeks. 
3—-HOW DEPENDABLY AND PROFUSELY DOES 
IT BLOOM? Does the plant produce a liberal num- 
ber of bloom stems, with many branches and 
many bloom buds, year after year? Does the per- 
formance of the plant catch the eye at a dis- 
tance? 
4—DO THE BLOOMS AND THE STEMS HAVE 
GOOD SUBSTANCE? Are the blooms resistant to 
hot sun and to rain? Or do they curl, bleach, burn 
or open poorly? Do the stems remain upright and 
graceful regardless of winds, drought or beating 
rains? 
5—IS THE PLANT CLEAN? Do the shriveled 
buds hang on to disfigure or do they drop quick- 
ly? Does the foliage remain green and upright 
into fall or does it sprawl or flop? Does it be- 
come “‘blighty” by late summer ? 
6—DO THE BLOOMS REMAIN OPEN EVENINGS? 
Top performers in this respect remain open to 
midnight, while new buds open. Some close before 
sundown. Stout Hybrids are outstanding for good 
evening habit. See catalog descriptions. 
7—IS IT DISTINCT FROM OTHER DAYLILIES? 
Does it vary sufficiently in season, type, shape, 
pattern or color from others already existing? 
NOTE: We introduce and handle all of, and 
only, Dr. Stout’s Hybrid Daylilies. Not that they 
are the only good daylilies, but they have all been 
critically checked and tested to an unequalled ex- 
tent for many years. They are distinct. They have 
superior garden habit, The first ones have been, 
and newer ones will be, outstanding and popular 
for many years. 
Before the first World War, Dr. A. B. Stout, 
Director of Laboratories at the New York Botani- 
cal Garden, became interested in Daylilies; the 
hardiest of garden plants but then lacking in 
colors and good garden habit. As his studies pro- 
gressed he envisioned: 1-New colors and combina- 
tions of color, 2-New and longer seasons of bloom, 
3-Larger and smaller blooms, 4-Improvements in 
many respects for better garden show and better 
garden habit. He realized that such improvements 
in daylilies would add extremely dependable and 
easily maintained beauty to all types of gardens, 
especially through the otherwise dull summer 
months. 
Since 1916, the New York Botanical Garden has 
obtained wild and varied species of daylilies from 
China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Siberia, Korea and 
Japan; also from Botanical Gardens of Europe. 
For more than thirty-five years Dr. Stout has 
hybridized these species and has applied selective 
and scientific breeding for numerous generations; 
has observed, recorded, evaluated and selected, 
critically and painstakingly, for good behavior in 
all kinds of weather, through day and night. 
In this study, some 150,000 seedlings were 
grown, evaluated and discarded. Of these less 
than 100 of the most outstanding and superior in- 
dividuals have been introduced, and about 300 are 
still being evaluated at the Farr Nursery Co.; in 
each case only the best of its class, and in each 
case, only after ten, or more, years of observation, 
comparison and test of the individual introduced. 
The rights to, and responsibilities of, propaga- 
tion and distribution, and co-operation in evalu- 
ation, were assigned to Mr. Bertrand Farr, in 
1920, as a pioneer contemporary in daylily in- 
terest and enthusiasm. Shortly thereafter, Dr. 
Stout achieved red, pink and the other new Day- 
lily colors. More than a thousand ‘‘New Daylilies” 
could have been introduced on the basis of new 
and gorgeous colors, new patterns, new sizes and 
new seasons. This has not been done because Dr. 
Stout and Mr. Farr regarded the “performance” 
of a daylily to be much more important than the 
beauty of the bloom. Neither does the Farr Nur- 
sery Company wish to distribute any daylily 
which will not be outstanding for many years to 
come. 
As results are achieved, even if expectations 
are exceeded, Dr. Stout and the Farr Nursery 
Company do not approve for introduction, until 
the best acting seedling of a new class has been 
ascertained by years of observation and compari- 
son. Quite often a seedling, selected years ago as 
most desirable, is never introduced because of im- 
provement noted in a newer seedling. 
The remaining few, and proven best, seedlings 
are the Daylilies which we are privileged to offer 
and distribute at an introductory price, which by 
an agreement with Dr. Stout, shall not exceed 
$3.00 per plant. Dr. Stout and we have refused 
many and all offers of $10.00 to $100.00 per plant 
from visitors who desired scarce or rejected seed- 
lings. We reduce the price to less than $3.00 as 
soon as supply permits. 
FARR NURSERY CO. 
