AN IRIS GARDEN 



The Florentine iris, which also belongs to the group 

 Palledoe, has long been famous not only for its snow- 

 white flowers, touched on the fall with blue, but for 

 its rhizomes, from which the grateful orris is "manu- 

 factured. 



Iris lovers who have searched for these plants in 

 various parts of the earth, deeming the sport more 

 pleasant than that of hunting wild beasts, have related 

 that they found it in Algiers on the graves of the Arabs' 

 cemetery. So beguiled, I wandered through the Mus- 

 sulmans' burial place from early noon until dusk, but 

 saw no trace of the Florentine iris. Other varieties 

 were there in numbers, small, cheery, and alert looking. 

 The air was heavily scented by them. 



The Queen of May is a charming variety, bloom- 

 ing comparatively early in a shade of rose lilac that 

 approaches pink. Madame Chereau is white and 

 distinctive, because of the small, parallel, blue veins 

 that run in a regular pattern along the edges of both 

 standard and fall. Its beard is faintly yellow. 



There are now so many varieties of these beautiful 

 flags that to make a selection among them is often a 

 difficult task. Through hybridization the type of the 

 old violet blue flag has been able to show itself in an 

 infinite number of colors, ranging from deepest purple 

 to pale blue, rose, and white, and from bronze to faint 

 yellow. 



Before the last of the German irises has left the 

 garden, the oriental ones are in full bloom. The Iris 

 Siberica, var. orientalis, has delicate foliage, resem- 

 bling somewhat that of the Japanese irises, only it is 



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