After twenty-seven years of iris breeding, twenty-one Honorable Mention awards, eight Awards of Merit, the Franklin Cook Memorial Cup 1973, and the Dykes Memorial Medal 1974, Sanford Babson was presented the Hybridizer's Medal by the American Iris Society Board of Directors last Novem- ber. And that is just about the order of im- portance placed in the awards by Sanford himself. He was just a little more excited about winning the Hybridizer's Medal than he was about the Dykes Medal because it represents recognition of his total work rather than tribute to just the one iris-even though that iris, SHIP-SHAPE, has been so widely acclaimed. Sanford's threats to stop breeding irises when he came to the end of the alphabet in his numbering (see BAIS 214: 38, "The Alphabet and the Iris Breeder") were quietly ignored last year, and it was noted that there were several white breeding tags hanging here and there on bulging seed pods in his garden. So, the twenty-eighth year begins a new alphabet. We wonder which one? Last year also saw Sanford sell his large acreage of orange groves and retire to his beautiful home and a bit of garden space around it where there will be room to grow iris seedlings—and perhaps (we hope) more time to work with them. BEN HAGER¹