THE IRIS 157 



American irises in general are as beardless as Red 

 Indians. Upon the whole, they are not too easy to 

 grow. Macrosiphon and Hartwegi and Douglasiana 

 from California ; tenax from British Columbia ; Mis- 

 souriensis from the Rockies ; Hookeri and virginica 

 from Canada, and others, including the plant I. verna, 

 which may be, or may not be, an apogon, all, I think, 

 require moist peat and shade and careful culture. My 

 results with them leave no loophole for enthusiasm 

 so far ; but on behalf of " Tol-long," a very charming 

 and easily-grown hybrid, I should like to know if 

 a difference between Missouriensis and Tolmieana 

 does or does not exist. Longipetala is one parent, 

 at any rate, and may be proud of a dainty child. 

 Tol-long is bright lavender, with the habit of longi- 

 petala, narrow, upright standards, small style-arms, 

 and falls streaked with the prevailing fine lavender 

 colour on a white ground. A signal of pale lemon 

 fades away on the fall, and completes a very delicate 

 and graceful study. It is a vigorous iris, and the 

 flowers often come out so swiftly that we may see 

 two on a stem together. Verna, from the Southern 

 States, must be a very lovely iris, but so far I have 

 not flowered it. It grew into a large plant on our 

 red earth, then began to perish. Now, in a lily bed 

 of peat, where the spot is cool and in half shade, it 

 looks healthier and well content. 



The native English irises, the golden Pseudacorus 

 and the lead-coloured fcetidissima, are exceedingly 

 common wild flowers in Devon, and having them 

 within a walk of my garden, it is not necessary that 



