LILIES AND THEIR WHIMS 267 



June and July, when the great flowers of rainbow 

 hues, spreading to a size that covers two open hands, 

 cry for drink to sustain the exhaustion of their mar- 

 vellous growth. So if your "squashy spot" is made 

 so by spring rains, all is well ; if not, it must be drained 

 in some easy way, like running a length of clay pipe 

 beneath, so that the overplus of water will flow off when 

 the Iris growth cannot absorb it. 



Ah me ! the very mention of this flower calls up 

 endless visions of beauty. Iris the flower of my- 

 thology, history, and one might almost say science as 

 well, since its outline points to the north on the face 

 of the mariner's compass; the flower that in the 

 dawn of recorded beauty antedates the rose, the frag- 

 ments of the scattered rainbow of creation that rests 

 upon the garden, not for a single hour or day or week, 

 but for a long season. The early bulbous Iris his- 

 triodes begins the season in March, and the Persian 

 Iris follows in April. In May comes the sturdy Ger- 

 man Iris of old gardens, of few species but every one 

 worthy, and to be relied upon in mass of bloom and 

 sturdy leafage to rival even the peony in decorative 

 effect. Next the meadows are ribboned by our own 

 blue flags; and the English Iris follows and in June 

 and July meets the sumptuous Iris of Japan at its 



