Re: HYB.Breeding for Older Form and the Market
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: HYB.Breeding for Older Form and the Market
- From: R* T* D* <r*@sierratel.com>
- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 20:48:53 -0700 (MST)
Ryan S. Carter wrote:
>
> Well Ryan says:
> I think that credo is correct, and that the newer varieties far
> outweigh the older varieties by virtue of their better form, color,
> substance, etc. etc. It is alright to grow them for a historical
> standpoint, but to give them a good award or to breed them is to evolve
> backward and destroy what the hybridizers have worked so hard and tediously
> for. They have had their day.
>
> Ryan
> I know you are thinking I would make a good politician...
> >Walta said:
> >
> ><< One in particular a number of people want is the removal of the statement
> >that for the best specimen the nod should be given to a newer variety, thus
> >ruling out an historic as 'best of show.'
> >
> >Good grief, I would hope so!
> >
> >I would abhor to see some modern cultivar get an edge over another splendidly
> >shown specimen purely because it was more recent. This is the presumption of
> >"new is progress" operating at its absolute worst. Why, when I think about
> >Copper Lustre or Beotie or Great Lakes or Henry Shaw or One Desire or Pewee or
> >any of many magnificent older irises...... well.... the mind reels....
> >
> >Anner Whitehead, staggering off to her fainting couch in Richmond Virginia
>
Ryan,
I think you are confusing American Iris Society (AIS) awards with Show
Awards. Two different things. The AIS has over 800 judges who are
mailed an official ballot to vote for iris in different
classifications. Each judge has an obligation to maintain a
representative collection of iris types that can be grown in his area
and to add some new varieties each year. The judge must see as many
varieties and classes of irises in a garden as possible and evaluate
them for a two year period under vairied weather. The judge should
visit gardens of local hybridizers as often as possible.
Exhibition judging of irises is distinctly different from judging in the
garden. On the show bench a judge is not trying to determine the
qualities and attributes of a particular variety. Rather the exhibition
judge must pass judgment in two areas: 1. Cultural perfection (How well
the specimen is grown) and 2. Condition and Grooming (how well the
specimen was perpared for entry).
Therefore given the above, I see no reason that a historic variety
should not be able to win Best Speciman in an AIS Approved Iris Show.
Lest you think I am quite the scholar, some of the above text was lifted
from "The Handbook for Judges and Show Officials".
Hope this provides you some insight!
Rick Tasco
Superstition Iris Gardens
Central California
Zone 8
