ON THE CULTIVATION OF 0NC0CYCLTT8 IRISES. 



817 



the advisability of havinf? a clialky soil, nor do 1 i-einember imythiii^' 

 pointing to it. With M. Danimanii, of Naples, it was rather diHerent; he 

 also grows Oncocycliis Irises near the slopes of Vesuvius, and he did tell 

 nie that Iris Gatesii, Iris Lortctl, Iris siisiaiia, and Iris iberica have a 

 mild inclination for some chalky soil, but he mixed it up with so many 

 other things- e.g. sandy loam, black-red loam, mould, old manured 

 cucumber soil — that its value was obscured and 1 had very confused insti'uc- 

 tions to go upon, and 1 found it rather hard to comply with them, and so 

 gave therii up ; but it is true that he did say something about chalky soil 

 inter alia. Mr. F. Moore, the well-known director of the Hoyal Gardens 

 at (llasnevin, has written to me that " he always used lime rubbish fi-oni 

 old walls in making up the beds for Oncocyclus Irises, and then he gave 

 them weak manure w^ater in April to counteract the poorness of the soil." 



Mr. F. Burbidge, whose experience in these things is so great, has 

 written to me : " That is a most valuable observation of yours, i.e. lime 

 or chalk for the Cushion Irises. May not this account for the uni(|ue 

 success of Sir Michael Foster, F.B.S., who, as you well know, grows these 

 Howers on the breezy crest of a chalk hill up among singing larks in the 

 flinty barley-fields at Great Shelf ord ? " This would tend to show that 

 Mr. Burbidge had not before this year come to any definite conclusion 

 about the advisability, or rather the necessity, of lime being used, and so 

 also with several others. I am far fi'om saying that lime has not been 

 used at all in the cultivation of these splendid flowers. ^Ir. F. Moore, 

 for instance, tells us that he used lime rubbish from old walls in making 

 up his beds, but no great stress has ever been laid upon it, so far as i 

 know anything about the mattei*. Many have gone on, year after year, 

 pegging away " at this point and that, but they have all the while com- 

 pletely overlooked the most important factor in the way of commanding 

 success which can be anyhow named. It has not held the right j)lace, in 

 our estimation, at all, and has often been obscured and sometimes (juite 

 forgotten in the practice we follow. I would assert with all the strength 

 and emphasis 1 can command that Oncocyclus Irises not only put up 

 with, and are benefited by, the presence of lime in the soil, but that it is 

 imperatively retjuired l)y them in some shape, and they must have it if 

 they are to do really well and also continuously. From what I have 

 seen in my own garden, and the difference between this year and all tbe 

 other years that have gone before it, 1 have come to think that lime is 

 the missing link, so to say — the sine qua non — the imperatively needed 

 factor in the cultivation of these beautiful flowers, and it should not be 

 spoken of as a thing which may or may not be supplied, but as a prime 

 necessity without which success can be only very comparative, but with 

 which (other things being right) good results will ensue ; and I feel so 

 certain that this is very often left out of sight and not at all understood 

 that I venture to add words to words so as to bring it <[uite clearly to the 

 front. Now it is a fact that light came to me and to others simultane- 

 ously last year, and, as we think, in rather odd ways. \\'e put two and 

 two together, and there was only one conclusion to be derived from it all. 

 which is, that most of these Oncocyclus Irises, if not all, are essentially 

 lime-loving plants ; they may, perhaps, get on without it for a time, but 

 they will get on much better with it, and all who want to succeed with 



