IXIA. 



155 



IXIA. 



Irish Ivy. — The giant ivy, /. ca- 

 nariensis, which, though called Irish, 

 is, in fact, a native of the Canary Is- 

 lands. 



Irish Yew. — The upright growing 

 yew, which forms a flame-shaped tree 

 like the upright cypress, or Lombardy 

 poplar, instead of spreading like the 

 common kinds. When young, it makes 

 a very handsome shrub, from the fine 

 colour and luxuriance of its foilage. 



Is^ns. — Cruciferce.—I . tinctoria, 

 the woad, is a British plant, used for 

 dyeing blue, and which looks well in a 

 miscellaneous border or shrubbery. 

 Some of the species are dwarf plants, 

 very suitable for rock-work. 



Isopo'gon. — Proteacece. — Austra- 

 lian plants, with very curious leaves 

 and flowers, nearly allied to Banksia. 

 They should be grown in peat and 

 sand, mixed with a little turfy loam, 

 and the pot should be a third filled 

 with potsherds broken small. These 

 plants are very difficult to cultivate, 

 as they are very apt to damp off ; the 

 cuttings also are extremely difficult to 

 strike. 



Iso'toma. — Lobeliacece. — Annual 

 and biennial plants, which may be 

 sown in the open ground, or brought 

 forward in a hotbed, and planted out 

 in May. i". axillaris is a most beau- 

 tiful and elegant plant, the flowers of 

 which look like a large lilac jasmine. 



Ftea. — Ericaceae. — A little hardy 

 American shrub, which requires peat 

 soil in British gardens. 



Ivy. — See He'dera. 



Ixia. — Iridacece — Bulbous-rooted 

 plants, with very beautiful flowers, 

 which vary exceedingly in colour and 

 form. They are all natives of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and they are ge- 

 nerally grown iu pots in greenhouses; 

 but as, when thus treated, their slen- 

 der stems are apt to become etiolated, 

 and consequently very weak, they do 

 much better in the open garden, 

 treated in the following manner, in 



the climate of London : — A bed of 

 any width and breadth that may be 

 required, should be dug out to the 

 depth of two or three feet, according 

 to the nature of the soil, a retentive 

 clay requiring to be dug deepest. Thi3 

 bed should have a third part of its 

 depth filled with pebbles, brick-bats, 

 or any other draining material. A 

 stratum of fresh turfy loam should be 

 laid on this, and above it a stratum of 

 rotten cow-dung, so as to fill the bed 

 to within about a quarter of its depth 

 from the surface of the ground. The 

 bed should then be filled with a mix- 

 ture of light turfy loam and sand, the 

 loam being broken or chopped small, 

 but not sifted. The surface of the 

 bed should be raised two or three 

 inches above the level of the sur- 

 rounding border ; and it is most de- 

 sirably situated, if backed by a south 

 wall, and sloping from the wall to the 

 gravel-walk. In this bed the Ixia 

 roots should be planted in quincunx ; 

 and if they are protected by a thatched 

 covering raised on a slight wooden 

 frame during winter, they may be left 

 in the ground several years without 

 sustaining any injury. In the north 

 of England, or in any cold wet cli- 

 mate, the Ixias may be planted in 

 October in pots, well drained, with a 

 layer of cow-dung over the drainage, 

 and filled up with a mixture of turfy 

 loam and sand. The Ixias should be 

 planted three in each pot ; and the 

 pots should be plunged into a hotbed, 

 and covered with a glass frame during 

 winter. In spring, the glasses may be 

 gradually removed, and when the 

 flowers are nearly ready to expand, 

 the pots may be removed to the 

 greenhouse, or the window of a sit- 

 ting room. Where the soil of a garden 

 is a fat yellow loam, or a chalky or 

 other porous subsoil, and the situation 

 dry and yet sheltered, the bulbs may 

 frequently be planted in the open 

 ground, and left there for years, with- 



