BORDER IRISES 173 



New York City. These Irises have curiously "netted" 

 bulbs, hence the name, and the type and its variety 

 Krelagei are characterized by peculiar four-sided leaves 

 with a horny tip. The type is the most beautiful of all. 

 I never cease to be quite overwhelmed at the appearance 

 of these brilliant purple and gold flowers so early in the 

 year, shining through their stiff, narrow leaves. Last 

 spring they flashed forth while the snow still lay upon 

 the ground, and in spite of the discouraging cold their 

 delicious violet fragrance was discernible several feet 

 away. /. Krelagei bears a duller flower, and neither 

 this nor the variety histrioides has, save in a slight de- 

 gree, the violet perfume. Histrioides blooms a little 

 before the others and bears larger flowers which often 

 expand before the leaves are well out of the ground. If 

 taken into a warm room both this and Krelagei will give 

 out more perfume, but the type seems quite undaunted 

 in its determination to make sweet the cold March 

 garden. 



All the reticulata Irises are prone to a deadly disease 

 which shows on the netted surface of the bulb in inklike 

 spots, and soon proves fatal. Professor Michael Foster 

 recommends lifting and replanting the bulbs frequently, 

 discarding those which show the blight, and another 

 authority advocates soaking them for an hour or so in a 

 solution of formaline of the strength of one in three 

 hundred parts. My reticulatas have done fairly well in 

 a raised border against a wall facing south, where they 



