THE IRIS. 249 



must make them the favorites of the seuii-arid regions and even of 

 California, the great tlairst land where it rains one month and the 

 other eleven months like thirty beasts of prey pounce upon the fields 

 and suck them dry. 



Though they repay the best of care they will bear neglect and 

 survive where others would die. Too much water and too much 

 manure are not good for them. 



3rd. They seem capable of enduring any degree of cold. The 

 Pumila, the German and Siberian families are very hardy. The Japs, 

 though of rare beauty, if they can have their own way, are not a suc- 

 cess in the West and Northwest. In California, they sunburn and in 

 Nebraska they must be kept under a lath screen when they richly 

 reward you with their rare beauty. 



There are about thirty kinds of the Siberians. The flowers are 

 somewhat smaller than the German, but many of them are of winsome 

 beauty. The blue type has blooms of deep intense blue, borne on 

 strong, slender stems like ramrods. Pick them just as they begin to 

 open and they can be shipped quite a distance. The very deep color 

 blends harmoniously with other tints, so they are great favorites 

 with the florists. Snow Queen belongs to this family. It has a beau- 

 tiful flower of snowy white with golden reflex in the centre, it is quite 

 late. 



4th. The peony is a slow multiplier, and there is no process by 

 which it can be hurried up. If you have a new syringa or spirea or 

 most any kind of expensive ornamental shrub, you can multiply it 

 by cutting, by budding or root divisions. So from one you can soon 

 have a hundred. But you can't hurry the peony. When a new and 

 rare one is produced of very high price you must wait. No use in try- 

 ing to push it. It is bound to take its time. Some will double every 

 year, some will take two or three years and the fame of their beauty 

 is growing much faster than they do. So the price mounts higher. 

 We have one that cost $10, some $5 and there is not much prospect 

 of their being lower. 



But it is not so with the Iris. In the first place they are not 

 as expensive. A fine collection can be had at about 2 5c each or less. 

 The costliest are about $1. But remember, on the average, they 

 increase from one plant to ten in two years. I have divided 30 from 

 one in that time. But that is above the average. From this rapid 

 increase from ten you soon have one hundred and so on and then you 

 can plant in masses and have an abundance as God does in his great 

 flower gardens. How stingy people are when it comes to home adorn- 

 ment. Some expect two or three little flowers to cheer up a 160 acre 

 farm. They can't do it. A man builds a flne house and furnishes it 

 with costly furniture and carpets, but the moment he goes out of doors 

 he must have the cheapest of trees and shrubs and a dinky little bed 

 of flowers. The home should be a picture set in a worthy frame, with 

 all tlie embellishment which art and skill can give it. 



