32 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 256, 



that tlie varieties then introduced are still all grown at Wool- 

 son's nursery, where they have been the parents of a large 

 number of fine varieties. The Japanese Irises are admirable 

 garden-plants, perfectly hardy, making numerous short creep- 

 ing rhizomes and are readily propagated by these or by seed, 

 which germinates rapidly and produces flowering plants the 

 second year. The leaves are abundant, thin, finely ribbed, 

 sword-shaped, and light green in color. The stems overtop 

 the leaves and bear usually a single cluster of two or three 

 flowers. The standards are very short, the falls wide and 

 usually arranged laterally, flat or slightly waving, and in color 

 white marked with yellow and in all shades of purple, from 

 claret to a light violet. Some of these are self-colored, some 

 have parti-colored markings, and an interesting group has 

 dark reticulations on light grounds. Good forms of the 

 flower spread about six inches, but by cultivation they are 

 often to be had half as large again. There are double forms 

 of this Iris, usually with six falls, and this doubling does not 

 detract from its grace. The pecuHar grace of the plants in 

 flower seems to me to be their special charm. Their color-effec 

 is rather sombre, but the flowers seem lightly poised on their 

 tall stems, and the effect is in striking contrast with that of the 

 more formal German Irises, with their tall standards and 

 drooping falls. They also succeed the latter in their flowering 

 season, and with proper selection of varieties one should have 

 quite a month of Japanese Irises. They are cultivated as sub- 

 aquatics to get the best results as to size of flower, but they do 

 well in a moderately moist border, or elevated slightly on the 

 margins of water, where their roots easily find abundant mois- 

 ture. Otherwise, the proper way to cultivate this Iris is in 

 groups of moderate size. In masses, as seen in nursery rows, 

 or in the large collections of which one sees occasional pic- 

 tures, they seem to lose that airy grace which is so character- 

 istic. 



The American Irises should have a separate chapter, as they 

 are among our handsomest native flowers. Mr. Sereno Wat- 

 son, in Garden and Forest (vol. i., p. 18), in an interesting 

 note called attention to the fact that "they have received little 

 attention from horticulturists, and most of them are imperfectly 

 known to professed botanists." It is difficult to discover what 

 plants are being cultivated in gardens, and there may be com- 

 plete collections of American Irises in cultivation, but a num- 

 ber of them seem difficult to obtain except through collectors, 

 and there are those which appear to be difficult to retain in cul- 

 tivation after they have been collected. Mr. Watson enumerates 

 eighteen species in the article referred to, and there has since 

 been added Iris Caroliniana, discovered by Mr. W. A. Manda 

 near Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1888. It may prove use- 

 ful to repeat this list. The eastern and arctic species are : I. 

 lacustris, I. cristata (I. odorata, Pers.), I. verna, I. tripetala (I. 

 tridentata, Pursh), I. Hookeri and I. setosa (the latter also be- 

 ing found in Siberia), I. prismafica (I. Virginica, Gray, I. graci- 

 lis, Bigelow, I. Boltoniana, R. & S.), I. hexagona, I. cuprea (I. 

 fulva, Ken), I. versicolor. 



Iris Missouriensis (I. Tolmieana, Herbert) is the only species 

 of the interior plateau ranging from the Rocky Mountains to 

 the Sierra. 



The species of the far west and Pacific coast are : I. tenax, 

 I. tennis, I. Macrosiphon, I. Douglasiana, I. bracteata, I. Hart- 

 wegi and I. longipetala. 



Iris lacustris is a very dwarf species, resembling I. cristata, 

 found on the shores of the Great Lakes in moist gravel, and sub- 

 mits readily to cultivation ; color, lilac, with a yellow crest. I. 

 cristata is second to no dwarf Iris in beauty. It is perfectly hardy 

 in this latitude. The light lilac flowers, beautifully crested, are 

 freely produced and are fragrant. The thin root-stalks creep 

 at or near the surface in all directions, and when flowering the 

 low foliage is fairly hidden by the abundant flowers. I. verna 

 is another fragrant dwarf with darker flowers and grass-like 

 foliage ; a fine variety for border or rockery. I. tripetala is a 

 distinct and interesting Iris botanically. It proves to be at- 

 tractive in the garden, growing strongly in an ordinary border, 

 with purple flowers. As it is from Florida, I have, as yet, lifted 

 it in winter, and cannot report as to its hardiness. Trans- 

 planted in the border it flowered this year in July. I. pris- 

 matica, the narrow-leaved, and I. versicolor, the broad-leaved. 

 Irises are so abundant in the eastern states as to be familiar to 

 every one, and are both worthy of cultivation in the garden, 

 where they are not at all fastidious, and seem to do equally 

 well in a dry border or as sub-aquatics. 



Iris Caroliniana is a species near to I. versicolor, but is very 

 distinct horticulturally. It proves to be an attractive Iris with 

 rather pale green (not glaucous) lax leaves, about two feet high. 

 The stems and spathes are dark brown and the flowers are 

 lilac. It is very vigorous and free-flowering. 



Iris hexagona is the tall crested species of the southern 

 Atlantic coast. I. cuprea has been long in cultivation, and is 

 one of the most distinct of the family, with its coppery brown 

 flowers, which are expanded laterally, and are quaint and at- 

 tractive. While a native of swamps of the interior, it grows 

 well with me in the driest border. I. Missouriensis has the 

 distinction of being the only member of the family in the vast 

 territory between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. It is 

 rather attractive, with pale purple reticulated falls. 



Native plants of the California coast are not, as a rule, very 

 satisfactory ones for careless cultivation on this coast, and the 

 Irises, or, at least, some of them, are, apparently, not excep- 

 tions to this. I tenax, however, lives and flowers freely here 

 with no special care. I. tennis was figured in Garden and For- 

 est (vol. i., p. 7) and I. bracteata in vol. i., p. 43, and it will be 

 found that these, with I. Hartwegii, which also has thin, wiry^ 

 creeping root-stalks, are rather difficult subjects in the garden 

 here. I. Hartwegii is found in the high ranges of the Sierras 

 under Pinus ponderosa growing in red volcanic clay. I have 

 found among my friends no one who has succeeded in grow- 

 ing it successfully for more than a year or two at best. There 

 is an experimental clump in one corner of my garden, but it is 

 not a corner where many hopes are centred. I. Douglasiana 

 is of more robust habit, with flowers white-veined, rosy lilac. 

 A friend has found some natural hybrids of these, apparently 

 from a cross with I. macrosiphon. He describes them as so 

 singularly beautiful that it is to be regretted that they are still 

 in the wilderness. 



Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard. 



Euphorbias. 



T^EW of the many Euphorbias grown in our greenhouses 

 •*■ are good ornamental plants. At this time the three species 

 in bloom areE. pulcherrima, also known as Poinsettiapulcher- 

 rima, E. jacquinaeflora and E. splendens. All these plants 

 have inconspicuous flowers, but they produce very brilliant 

 scarlet bracts, and are showy and ornamental at this season 

 when flowers are scarce. 



Euphorbia pulcherrima has large terminal scarlet bracts, which 

 make it a striking object. We grow a large number of these 

 plants. When they have finished blooming they are put under 

 a bench to rest for two or three months and are kept perfectly 

 dry. About the end of April they are cut back to within two- 

 buds of the old wood. They are then put into a warm house, 

 where they are syringed for a few days to make the buds push. 

 When fairly started, all the old soil is shaken from the roots 

 and they are repotted in soil such as is used for ordinary stove 

 plants. After repotting they are put back into the greenhouse 

 for a few days until the weather is sufficiently warm for them 

 to be plunged outside in the garden, when they require a lib- 

 eral supply of water and are greatly benefited by syringing 

 every evening. They are taken back to the greenhouse in 

 September and the pots plunged in old sphagnum moss and 

 kept close and shaded for a few days. I find that by plunging 

 them in moss they keep their leaves better, and in a few weeks 

 the moss is full of their roots. Then I begin to give them weak 

 liquid-manure. Under this treatment the plants produce long 

 stems, with plenty of large healthy leaves and large heads of 

 flowers, some twelve, fifteen and eighteen inches in diameter. 

 E, pulcherrima is easily propagated from cuttings of the young 

 wood in spring or summer. If plants of various heights are 

 required, cuttings should be put in at different times during 

 the summer and grown along in pots. 



Euphorbia jacquinaeflora is not quite so showy as E. pul- 

 cherrima ; when it is well grown it is, however, a handsome 

 and useful winter-flowering plant. The color of the bracts is 

 bright orange-scarlet, and the flowers and bracts are produced 

 plentifully in long racemes, which make the plant very showy. 

 It is very useful for cutting, and the bracts remain in perfec- 

 tion for some time after being cut. It is increased by cuttings 

 in spring, and if the young plants are potted on and checked 

 once or twice during the summer they make nice stocky 

 plants for winter decoration. Old plants should be cut back 

 and treated in the same way as E. pulcherrima. When set out 

 in a border with plenty of room and light it makes a fine speci- 

 men plant, producing a large quantity of long racemes of 

 bright bracts. Both of these Euphorbias are natives of 

 Mexico. 



Another Euphorbia which deserves a place in every collec- 

 tion of plants is E. splendens. This species is in bloom more 

 or less during the entire year. Indeed, I do not remember the 

 time when the plant we now have in bloom was without flow- 

 ers. E. splendens has stout succulent stems, which branch 

 freely, and these are thickly set with long, sharp thorns. The 

 leaves are small, bright green and thin in texture. The bracts 



