their vulgar opulence. You descend on your white plague and 
root it out. It has ceased to be an affair with a trowel. It 
takes a brawny arm and a mattock. You acquire a pile of 
bulky wood. In the evening while you muse on the mistakes 
of life, your fire burns a Marguerite stump ! 
D. DolicJios lignosKs. The Australian Pea famed for rapid 
growth. As the vine lengthens the stem strengthens. Manila 
cord is not more stout. Woe betide the gardener who allows 
this climber to twine among other plants. It is easier to keep 
it out than get it out. 
E. The Eucalyptus Family — The handsomest immigrants 
in all California. So charming in youth, and distinguished in 
age ; adding strength to the landscape, and beauty to the large 
estate. Eucalyptus citriodorus towers like an ancient gallant 
in white satin breeches, with Lemon Verbena in his lapel. 
Ficifolia, the scarlet-clad sister, is almost a lady, but — 
Alas! it's their manners, their shocking bad manners which 
make gentle folk shun them. They are ravenous gluttons and 
thieves. They are sly in their methods and cruel, crawling far 
into drain pipes and under foundations. They are the cave 
men of nature who take what they want. Keep all of this 
family outside little gardens. But oh, how we love them! the 
tall, graceful villains ! 
F. Stands for Fuchsia, and also for FINIS — a fine place to 
stop. One can't write of the whole alphabet at a sitting, nor 
read it either. It was intended to begin this posy primer with 
a precept. Let it be ended with a command — "Withold your 
hand from planting till you know ivJiat to put in!" 
Ervana Bowen Bissell. 
Some Irises for California 
The Iris is the hardy herbaceous plant best adapted to Cal- 
ifornia. In the east such favorites as the Peony and Phlox do 
better than in this state of warm winters and dry summers, but 
every American Iris grower looks to California as the paradise 
where root-rot is rarely seen, winter killing unkno^\^3, the season 
extended for months and a wider range of varieties easily g^o^^^l. 
The home of most Irises is around the IMediterranean and east- 
ward to central Asia. In America the nearest approach to the 
climate of these sections is found in California and the south- 
west, and so Irises are readily grown here without resort to 
artificial conditions. The exceptions are the Japanese, the Siber- 
ian, the wild Irises of Europe (pseudacorus) and eastern America 
(versicolor), all water-loving and therefore requiring heavy 
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