In regular usage:
"to" in English implies going "from" something "to" something else.
"and" implies adding things together.
"on" implies putting something on (top) of something.
"with" is sort of like "and" only it (sort of) implies one or the other
thing mentioned is less or later or subordinate in some way. i.e.,
mother with child versus child with mother.
"by" usually implies something acting on something else. (i.e., a
passenger traveling by train, a pot broken by falling).
So "I cross iris A with iris B" implies (to me, anyway) that you crossed
pollen from B on A; "I cross iris A to iris B" implies you crossed
pollen "from" A "to" B.
In ordinary English, the meaning of "cross iris A by iris B" is less
obvious to me, but maybe it means the pollen got to A by "bee" (pun). I
guess it might mean "iris A (pollinated) by iris B".
In horses, A, by B means B is the sire, where A is inseminated by B.
Apologies to English majors and those who really understand grammar -
just bored on another rainy gray day & thought I'd put in my two cents.
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.DiscoverET.org/etis>
Region 7, Kentucky-Tennessee <http://www.aisregion7.org>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>
