A LONDON TROUT 63 



shower. The flowering flag spreads like a fan from the 

 root, the edges overlap near the ground, and the leaves 

 are broad as sword-blades, indeed the plant is one of 

 the largest that grows wild. It is quite different from 

 the common flag with three grooves bayonet shape 

 which appears in every brook. The yellow iris is much 

 more local, and in many country streams may be sought 

 for in vain, so that so fine a display as may be seen 

 here seemed almost a discovery to me. 



They were finest in the year of rain, 1879, that terrible 

 year which is fresh in the memory of all who have any 

 interest in out-of-door matters. At midsummer the 

 plantation was aglow with iris bloom. The large yellow 

 petals were everywhere high above the sedge; in one 

 place a dozen, then two or three, then one by itself, then 

 another bunch. The marsh was a foot deep in water, 

 which could only be seen by parting the stalks of the 

 sedges, for it was quite hidden under them. Sedges and 

 flags grew so thick that everything was concealed except 

 the yellow bloom above. 



One bunch grew on a bank raised a few inches above 

 the flood which the swollen brook had poured in, and 

 there I walked among them ; the leaves came nearly up 

 to the shoulder, the golden flowers on the stalks stood 

 equally high. It was a thicket of iris. Never before had 

 they risen to such a height ; it was like the vegetation of 

 tropical swamps, so much was everything drawn up by 

 the continual moisture. Who could have supposed that 

 such a downpour as occurred that summer would have 

 had the effect it had upon flowers? Most would have 

 imagined that the excessive rain would have destroyed 

 them ; yet never was there such floral beauty as that year. 

 Meadow-orchis, buttercups, the yellow iris, all the spring 

 flowers came forth in extraordinary profusion. The hay 



