32 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



but is of a deep blue-purple colour, slightly mottled with 

 blotches of a darker shade. A conspicuous feature is the 

 jagged crest, which is white with brown markings. There 

 appears to be something about the constitution of this Iris 

 that we do not yet understand. It comes very readily from 

 seed, and flowers within eighteen months of the first ap- 

 pearance of the seedlings, but in subsequent years vigorous 

 plants are apt to lie almost dormant, or at best to produce 

 weak growths. If it will grow on roofs, it can hardly be 

 a gross feeder, and yet it seems to do best when frequently 

 transplanted and grown in good light soil. The trans- 

 plantation should of course take place immediately the 

 flowers are over, or even before they have faded, and the 

 position chosen should be warm and sheltered. 



Besides the type, there is a beautiful white-flowered 

 form, the crest of which is marked with gold. It is not 

 usually quite as vigorous as the type, nor does each stem 

 produce as many flowers, but, when well grown, it is one 

 of the most beautiful of all Irises. It resembles the type 

 in coming easily from seed, and is extremely accommodating 

 in that the seedlings all come pure white. At any rate, 

 this was the result of raising over a hundred seedlings, 

 among which there was not the slightest variation. There 

 is t>ne appeal that must be made on its behalf, and that 

 is that it should always be called /. tectorum alba instead 

 of the monstrous I. tectorum album of the catalogue writer. 



The Himalayan cousin of /. tectorum is distinctly disap- 

 pointing. /. Milesii promises great things by its vigorous 

 growth and yard-high leaves. Up come the tall stems, 

 overtopping even these big leaves, and at last there unfold 

 the insignificant flowers, barely half the size of those of 



