26 THE BOOK OF THE IRIS 



struck by the fact that Oncocyclus Irises were given to 

 fail at unexpected times and in unexpected ways beyond 

 any others of their race, and he determined to spare no 

 trouble and to avoid no expense that the secret of 

 success might be revealed. He also had last year come 

 to the suspicion that it had a good deal to do with the 

 presence or absence of lime in the soil, and he proceeded 

 to put this to the test he filled some large beds with 

 composts of very different kinds and he registered 

 the results he also went the length of procuring 

 some soil from the natural habitats of the flowers, 

 and he subjected it to a very vigorous analysis of his 

 own. This may be taken, I should think, to have quite 

 settled the matter, the proportion of lime in the Iris' 

 homes stands in a relation of about 150 to 5 out of looo 

 parts when compared with what is found in such a 

 country as Holland. The principal point still left open 

 by him, so far as I know, is if magnesium be required, 

 but it scarcely would seem to be so if the look of the 

 Irises be considered, which have had nothing to do 

 with it. 



No doubt revelations on minor points may be forth- 

 coming, and nobody would assert that the last word has 

 been said about this matter, but it is a great thing to feel 

 a hope nay a very confident expectation that if certain 

 plain rules be adopted in the cultivation of Oncocyclus 

 Irises, they will not now be followed in vain ; and what 

 pleasure they give in the opening months of spring ! 

 Perhaps the fact that they have eluded us so long may 

 quicken the admiration to which they always give birth. 

 They seem, at any rate to me, to be in advance of all 

 other flowers ; there is a refinement, a delicacy about 

 them which belongs to nothing else ; and I have fre- 

 quently seen men and women almost poring over my 

 frames in a kind of speechless astonishment. It may, 

 perhaps, be as well to say in conclusion that some little 



