IRIS 209 
drainage. Then get sound young crowns of the Iris, put 
them in and leave them patiently alone, only taking care 
to keep them clean of weeds and grass—a companionship 
that the haughty creature hates. On the question of 
moisture I am not inclined to be Rhadamanthine ; in my 
own moist climate I have not specially troubled to keep 
the Jrises supplied with special extra moisture, though, in 
both gardens, my tracts of Iris Kaempferi lie in and out 
of the bog. If the soil is heavy and rich, almost enough 
has been done: the roots are secure against starvation 
and drought. And my own suggestion would be that 
more harm is done to Jris Kaempferi in England by over- 
attention in the matter of water than in any other way. 
Grow it in very cool, rich, heavy soil, open to the sun, 
and leave it undisturbed. Then, provided your climate 
supplies a certain amount of rain—especially in early 
summer—you should do well. And, of course, if your 
climate be fatally dry, you will have to supply some 
artificial moisture. But not, I advise, too much, nor too 
persistent. People who see a plant blooming in a bog 
are too apt to conclude that it requires soaking wet all 
through the year; as a matter of fact many, if not most, 
bog-plants enjoy their season of comparative dryness. 
Few cultivated plants have a wider range of colour 
than the Japanese Iris—ranging, as it does, from the 
creamiest pure white, through every shade of mauve, 
purple, and imperial violet, to a blue so intense as almost 
to verge on azure. But I would—this as a matter of 
personal taste, not of doctrine, and therefore not entailing 
thirty-nine distinct damnations if you trip upon it— 
that you exercise care in your choice of Japanese Irises. 
Do not buy job lots, do not buy unnamed sorts, or named 
sorts without description. For there are many double 
and semi-double varieties, and there are also very many 
mottled, splotched, splashed, streaky forms—even more 
Oo 
