IRIS 211 
~ 
a pale blue form, and a snow-white one, and a new im- 
proved albino, Snow-gueen, which, like major, has the 
advantage of larger flowers—the one weakness of szbirica 
being that its very pretty flowers, besides being indivi- 
dually short-lived, are also rather small for the height of 
their stems. Finally, I have, from a _ neighbouring 
garden, plants of a giant sébirica, which originated 
there from seed, and proves far and away the largest 
and the most solidly brilliant of the group. Of the rare 
new Delavayi I cannot say much. It is a later, large- 
blooming cousin of sibirica; but I have never been at 
home when my clumps bloomed, and therefore cannot 
describe them except to say that they persist. Probably, 
too, it is more nearly related to the tall sword-leaved 
bog-species, of which gigantea is the chief. It is with 
sibirica as with Kaempferi; the plant, as a rule, is better 
in bulk than as isolated specimens. Its greatest triumph 
is when arranged as a loose chain of tufts down the 
winding shore of some lake or little stream. My 
own memory of it is at daybreak, in levels round the 
shallow end of a Japanese lake. ‘The solid earth was all 
a waving sea of blue Iris; and, beyond, the pale water 
of the lake lay motionless without a ripple, carrying the 
flawless reflection of Fujiyama, pure in snow, a dozen 
miles away through the clear breathless hush of dawn. 
Of the other Japanese Irises, I can but mention my 
glimpse of a conspicuous deep-sapphire one, tall and stal- 
wart, of the gigantea kindred, I think, which I saw one day 
on my way up to Nikko. And then there is the rare, rich 
albo-purpurea, which has recently come into cultivation, 
and seems to be now causing grief and searchings of 
heart. It is being, I expect, too much treated as a bog- 
plant, requiring incessant wet. I should here repeat my 
suggestion about Kaempferi, and, to foster confidence, 
will here mention, rather late in the day, perhaps, that I 
