El's MtJce « Moil/rr (Et^, 



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Now for the Japanese iris; if you want to get 

 those which are named Gekla-no-Nami, Sofu-no-Koi, 

 Momijii-no-Taki, Ho-O-Jo, you may pay forty cents 

 apiece for them ; but if you are content to get mixed 

 American grown roots, and shuffle the alphabet, 

 naming them yourself, say, " frost-on-landscape," 

 " moon-dancing-on-milky-way," " petulant sea," you 

 may obtain them for six dollars a hundred. We 

 have the latter variety, personally christened. The 

 only drawbacks to the Japanese irises are the misera- 

 ble little heart worms (which really belong in corn), 

 that insist on hiding in the sheaths of the buds, 

 gnawing internally. The only thing to do for them 

 is to watch and pray and murder. These irises will 

 not do their best unless planted in a moist situation. 

 Fortunately for me, " Kingdom Come " has that 

 celestial quality. 



I hear that in Japan they actually flush water 

 over the entire iris field just before flowering time, 

 treating them almost as they do rice, but of course 

 we can't emulate this; and not even to obtain the 

 Japanese perfection would I go to the trouble of 

 watering. 



The Spanish irises are much grown in England for 

 cut flowers. They are the most poetical of all. 



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