66 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



flower tallies exactly, and he notes the peculiarity 

 that the petals "being laid in water will colour 

 the water into a violet colour, but if a little 

 Allome be put therein, and then wrung or 

 pressed, and the juice of these leaves dryed in 

 the shadow, they will give a colour almost as 

 deep as Indigo, and may be used for shadows 

 in limning excellent well." The flower of the 

 Iris susiana, if left in water or even allowed to 

 rot in the ordinary way, produces a very strongly- 

 coloured juice of a bluish violet tint. There 

 really is no room to doubt that the two irises 

 are the same, though how it happened that the 

 then and now valued flower went so out of 

 English cultivation, almost out of English know- 

 ledge, it is difficult to say. One imagines that 

 there came a time when no one appreciated its 

 "singularity and rarity" the only charms it 

 has to offer and it was allowed to die out. 

 Without care, of course, it would not thrive or 

 increase. It seldom bears seeds in these colder 

 countries, and the very few that are occasionally 

 borne never ripen. And it would hardly have 

 increased by spreading, as a rhizome if left un- 

 disturbed for long it would always die in the 

 centre of every clump it formed, only living at 



