DECEMBER 219 



be comforted, or to believe that the stones I 

 give to them are bread ! Iris Susiana 

 grand, melancholy, bizarre, half-mourning 

 iris ! once flowered magnificently in the 

 garden. But that was five or six years ago. 

 Since then, excepting in the greenhouse, 

 she has shown no sign of any wish to bloom. 

 No careful choice of situation, no sheltering 

 with glass during October and November 

 has yet availed to move her rigid self- 

 reserve. Ground up lime-stone mixed 

 well with the soil might be a help. The 

 strong mixture of granite in the soil of 

 Scotch gardens may be perhaps the secret 

 of the vigour and strength of colour and 

 larger size of their flowers, compared with 

 ours. In Riviera gardens, the black iris 

 luxuriates. Long ago in one of these 

 gardens by the sea, groups of it in full 

 flower grew on the green margin of a little 

 pool of water. Half hidden among the 

 great leaves stood a low stone sun-dial, 

 whose motto round about it went thus : 

 ^Vado e vengo, ogni giorno, ma tu andrai 

 senza ritorno/ The music of the words 

 still seems to haunt the soul in opal 



