IRIS 211 



a pale blue form, and a snow-white one, and a new im- 

 proved albino. Snow-queen, which, like major, has the 

 advantage of larger flowers — the one weakness of sibirica 

 being that its very pretty flowers, besides being indivi- 

 dually short-lived, are also rather small for the height of 

 their stems. Finally, I have, from a neighbouring 

 garden, plants of a giant sibirica, which originated 

 there from seed, and proves far and away the largest 

 and the most solidly brilliant of the group. Of the rare 

 new Delavayi I cannot say much. It is a later, large- 

 blooming cousin of sibirica; but I have never been at 

 home when my clumps bloomed, and therefore cannot 

 describe them except to say that they persist. Probably, 

 too, it is more nearly related to the tall sword-leaved 

 bog-species, of which gigantea is the chief. It is with 

 sibirica as with Kaempferi ; the plant, as a rule, is better 

 in bulk than as isolated specimens. Its greatest triumph 

 is when arranged as a loose chain of tufts down the 

 winding shore of some lake or little stream. My 

 own memory of it is at daybreak, in levels round the 

 shallow end of a Japanese lake. The solid earth was all 

 a waving sea of blue Iris ; and, beyond, the pale water 

 of the lake lay motionless without a ripple, carrying the 

 flawless reflection of Fujiyama, pure in snow, a dozen 

 miles away through the clear breathless hush of dawn. 



Of the other Japanese Irises, I can but mention my 

 glimpse of a conspicuous deep-sapphire one, tall and stal- 

 wart, of the gigantea kindred, I think, which I saw one day 

 on my way up to Nikko. And then there is the rare, rich 

 alba -purpurea, which has recently come into cultivation, 

 and seems to be now causing grief and searchings of 

 heart. It is being, I expect, too much treated as a bog- 

 plant, requiring incessant wet. I should here repeat my 

 suggestion about Kaempferi, and, to foster confidence, 

 will here mention, rather late in the day, perhaps, that I 



