CULTIVATION 29 



there is much lime in the soil." This is a valuable 

 communication, and the plan of raising from seed must 

 be emphasized because many plants are all the better 

 for a new lease of life thus provided if thus it may be 

 expressed. With regard to lime in the soil it may be 

 noted that this cannot be a sole cause of the failure of /. 

 Douglariana, because I know of a soil in Gloucestershire, 

 strongly impregnated with lime, in which it does well. 

 For this species I think it may be said that moisture in 

 some certain degree is necessary in this country, though 

 wet no doubt must be avoided. Mr Carl Purdy says that 

 it grows on the cool northern slopes in the woods or 

 along the cooler canyons in a well-drained soil, usually 

 clayey, but often gravelly or composed of rocky debris 

 and leafmould. He says in The Garden of Dec. 5, 1896, 

 that he has had it in cultivation for some years and has 

 never seen wild plants to match his own. They are 

 growing in a cool corner among ferns in a rich soil of 

 clay and compost. /. longipetala he has no difficulty in 

 establishing, but this does perfectly well on the ordinary 

 dry bed of the Cambridge Botanic Garden. Writing 

 on /. macrosiphon, L Douglasiana and /. Hartwtgi, also in 

 the same number of The Garden, this gentleman says, " I 

 am afraid that most of your cultivators have made the 

 mistake of planting in too heavy a soil and giving too 

 much water. From what I have said it can be seen that 

 these species come from regions very dry in summer, 

 that they grow in well-drained soils and make their 

 growth in the winter and spring in their native homes." 

 This latter remark explains no doubt the greater part 

 of the difficulty of growing these species. Continuing 

 he writes : In the summer they ripen up hard and the 

 roots become dry and wiry. With the coming of cool 

 weather and moisture in the fall, they at once start into 

 growth. . . . Success with these Irises is to be found in 

 giving them sunny quarters and not too much water, and 



