15 



in which wild plants have been found, the answer has usually 

 pointed to a stiff and loamy rather than to a light or sandy 

 soil. My own experience has also led me to choose for them a 

 moderately firm loam ; and, with the method of lifting annually, 

 I do not hesitate to make the ground as rich as possible. When 

 the bulbs are taken up every year I do not find those planted in 

 heavily manured ground more diseased than those planted in 

 virgin soil free from manure. 



Much pleasure may be gained in the dull, dreary days of 

 December and January by growing these reticulatas in pots, and 

 flowering them in a greenhouse. For this purpose they should 

 be potted at midsummer, plunged in a cold frame, protected from 

 excessive autumnal rains and from early winter frosts, and 

 brought into a cool greenhouse just as the buds are about to 

 expand. They are somewhat difficult to manage after they have 

 flowered ; and whether they be kept in the greenhouse (where 

 their long foliage, necessarily increased in length by being " drawn 

 up," is a source of trouble), or whether they be returned to their 

 chill home of a cold frame, they never ripen bulbs as do plants 

 living in the open. Moreover, the giving them the proper quantity 

 of water, neither too much nor too little, needs very careful judg- 

 ment, and errors in this matter tend very markedly to injure the 

 bulbs. Hence it is advisable to make use each year of bulbs 

 which have been previously grown out of doors. 



Several members of the reticulata group, such as sophenensis, 

 histrioides, Vartani, and others (I have not observed this in the 

 type or in Krelagei), throw out a very large number of small 

 bulbils round the base of the bulb. If these are planted 

 separately in a reserve ground, they will develop into flowering 

 bulbs in the course of two or three years. 



Considering the tune of year in which they flower, the 

 reticulata Irises go to seed fairly well. In gathering seed care 

 should be taken not to overlook the seed-pods, which are often 

 more or less buried in the ground. The seed, if sown as soon as 

 ripe, will to a large extent germinate in the folio whig winter and 

 spring ; but some of it may lie dormant for two, three, or even 

 more years. Germination is more certain when the seed is sown 

 in the open than when it is sown in pots or pans, owing pro- 

 bably to adequate moisture being thus more regularly secured. 

 But the seedlings which appear in December or January from 



B 



