68 
THE IRIS. 
Modern works enumerate nearly ninety 
species, but there appears no good foundation 
for calling some of them species. The only 
bulbous-rooted kinds named by Lindley and 
Paxton, in the Botanical Dictionary, are — 
I. alata, flowering blue, in June, introduced 
1801, from Algiers. 
I. tenuifolia, flowering light blue, in May, 
introduced 1796, from Dauria. 
I. tuberosa, flowering green and blue, in 
March, introduced 1597, from the Levant. . 
I. Xiphium, flowering blue and yellow, in 
June, introduced 1796, from Spain. 
I. xiphioides, flowering blue and yellow, 
in June, 1571, from Spain. 
But there is so great a diversity in the 
Persian, the Spanish, and those raised in 
England, many of which latter are of large size, 
that there may be found much more palpable 
distinctions among a number of seedlings, than 
can be found between the kinds recorded as 
separate species. The English Iris may be 
purchased now in large collections, of extra- 
ordinary colours and noble forms, as compared 
with the imported kinds. To these we direct 
our particular attention, as perseverance will 
unquestionably produce still more beautiful 
varieties than we yet possess. 
The cultivation of the bulbous Iris is simple: 
they will all grow in light rich soil in perfec- 
tion ; but they will grow and flower well in 
almost any garden - mould. The first care 
should be to obtain a collection of the largest 
flowering kinds, which can be had now at 
most respectable nurseries; let these be planted 
one foot apart, in a bed of loam, dung, and 
sand, so that, in fact, the compost may be rich 
without being heavy : here they will require 
no other care than allowing them three inches 
of soil above their crowns. If the bed is 
much exposed to the wind, the flower stems 
may be supported; but, in a general way, 
they do not require it ; here they will flower 
well, and must have all the weather, unless a 
wet season sets in about the time of their 
opening, for too much wet on their flowers 
would spoil their seeding ; they may, there- 
fore, be protected a part of the time from very 
heavy showers. When a seed-pod begins to 
swell, which that of the first bloom that opens 
will before the others bloom, the remainder 
must be picked off; and it is the custom with 
some to prevent any but the first flower from 
opening, and run the risk of the pod swelling. 
The greatest care must be taken that while the 
seed-pods are growing the plants are never 
dry, for watering is essential, unless the season 
be naturally moist enough to nourish them 
well. In due time the pods will swell to per- 
fection, and the leaves begin to turn yellow ; 
as soon as the pods are pretty ripe, they may 
be cut off with a piece of the stem, and laid 
in the dry, where, if they happen to burst, 
the seeds will be saved, and not blown away. 
In September, which is soon after they are 
ripe, the seeds may be sown in light compost, in 
wide-mouth pots, or ordinary seed-pans, very 
evenly, and not too close together ; that is, 
not so thickly as to inconvenience each other 
when up and grown a little. These pans 
should be placed where they will have only 
the morning sun, and gentle showers, if there 
be any; if not, they must be judiciously 
watered; for if they once dry after swelling, it 
is a great chance but they die altogether. It 
is necessary, although they are very hardy, to 
cover with a hand-glass, or place them in a 
frame, so that they can be protected against 
an excess of wet, which would rot them. 
Early in the spring the young plants will 
come up, when they must be kept clear i'rom 
weeds, and, as soon as the weather is mild 
enough, they may be placed in a shady place 
in the open air ; or, if they remain under 
glass, they must be shaded from the hot sun, 
though they may with advantage have it 
during the early part of the morning. Here 
they must be weeded and watered carefully all 
the while they are growing, and may remain 
until the leaves die down. It has been a 
custom to let them remain in their seed-pans, 
or pots, to grow a second season before they 
are disturbed at all ; but it is found better to 
let them remain till September only, and then 
to prepare other pots or pans in which to 
remove them ; and when they are filled with 
a compost of loam, leaf-mould, and dung, and 
a small portion of sand to lighten the soil, the 
bulbs, which will be but small, must be taken 
from the -first pans, and planted in their new 
pots, one inch apart, all over the surface, and 
covered half an inch with the same description 
of soil. Here they will thrive faster than if 
left in their old pots; and, as before coming 
up in the spring, and dying down in the 
summer, the attendance and treatment re- 
quired will be the same as the seed — weeding, 
watering, and shading as before. The bulbs 
will, this second season, have attained a size 
that will bear planting in the open ground, in 
a bed of light rich earth, in which drills may 
be drawn six inches apart, pretty deep, so 
that the bulbs may be planted in them three 
inches from each other, and be covered three 
inches with the soil that has been thrown 
out on each side of the drill. Here they will 
come up in the spring, and die down in the 
summer. The bed must be kept perfectly 
clean from weeds, and, when the leaves die 
down, an inch of fresh earth may be sifted 
over them, and the surface levelled. The next 
time they come up most of the flowers will 
appear, and then such must be marked as are 
improvements upon the kinds they are saved 
