THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 225 



THE CULTIVATION OF IRIS. 



(With Coloured Plate of Iris reticulata.) 



N the revival of a taste for hardy herbaceous plants which 

 it has been the pleasure and privilege of the present 

 generation to witness, the Iris has obtained a consider- 

 able share of attention, and many good collections have 

 been formed in gardens which would have been closed 

 against them altogether a few years since. We have, we trust, 

 done our full part in promoting this revival, and the Iris has not been 

 forgotten in our selections and disquisitions when herbaceous plants 

 have been the subjects of review. The subjoined figure of Iris 

 reticulata has been prepared in order to "popularize" a most beauti- 

 ful plant, and also to afford an excuse for recurring to a most 

 attractive theme. Therefore, in submitting the picture we crave 

 attention for a few remarks intended to indicate to the amateur the 

 several characteristics of the Iris family as garden plants, and the 

 measures that should be resorted to for their proper cultivation. In 

 order to convey the largest possible amount of useful information in 

 the fewest possible words, we shall abstain from eulogy, and dismiss 

 all general considerations in one brief paragraph. All the garden 

 species and varieties of Iris are hardy, or nearly so, and may there- 

 fore be grown in the open ground or in cool plant-houses, and 

 common pits and frames. They are all beautiful, but as compared 

 with the many fine herbaceous plants now at our command, are 

 certainly not all in an equal degree desirable for ornamental pur- 

 poses, as we shall indicate as we proceed. The choicer kinds that 

 flower early in the year belong properly to the alpine-house, or 

 " amateur's sanctum," such as was described at page 4 of last year's 

 volume of the Floral Would. In all cases the flowers are short- 

 lived, but they last long enough in a garden where a considerable 

 number of various kinds of ornamental plants are grown, and where 

 consequently a continuous succession of flowers is insured either in 

 the open ground or under glass. A few of the more robust-habited 

 Irises require the least possible amount of attention from the culti- 

 vator, for indeed if proper sites be chosen for them they will take 

 care of themselves. But the most delicate-habited, which happen, 

 also, generally speaking, to be the most beautiful, require careful 

 and methodical treatment ; and if planted and left to the care of 

 chance, will likely enough chance to disappear. We shall prescribe 

 the treatment for every one that we recommend, trusting solely to 

 our own experiences for the directions offered to the amateur who 

 takes an interest in these interesting plants. 



The genus Iris may, for cultural purposes, be divided into two 

 great sections, which we shall term the Iikizomatous and the Tuberous. 

 In the first group we find those that extend themselves by fleshy 

 rhizomas near the surface ; in the second, those that form distinct 

 tubers at some depth below the surface, and that in habit very 

 closely resemble plants that have true bulbs. Respecting these two 

 VOL. vi. — NO. viii. 15 



