HARDY PLANTS. 
157 
protected from injury by rain or frost. The flowers, if cut in 
the bud state, will open well in water indoors. Plant if 
possible in September or early October. 
The Japanese Iris is an exceedingly handsome flower, indi- 
vidual blooms measuring 6 to Sin. across, and the petals are 
also very large. The blooms are clematis-like in shape and 
borne during July and August. They require special culture 
to do them well. They do best in beds of gopd loamy soil on 
the margin of a pond, where they can get plenty of moisture 
in summer and comparatively little in winter. Beds may be 
easily formed to comply with these conditions. Failing a 
pond make a bed in the garden, puddling the bottom with 
clay if the soil is porous, and putting a foot of good loam 
on this. The top of the bed should be six inches below the 
ordinary level. This bed may be kept moist in summer by 
giving ample supplies of water. Some people grow these 
irises well by sinking half a cask with its bottom out in 
the garden, puddling the bottom with clay, and adding a foot 
or so of loam. Water is supplied as advised for the bed. In 
winter give a liberal dose of liquid cow manure once a month. 
Planting is best done in October or March. Named varieties, 
with flowers of all shades of lovely colours may be had. They 
are all varieties of I. laevigata (Syn. I. Kaempferi). 
Lastly, we have a section of pretty irises called Cushion 
Irises. They are a delicate race to cultivate, and few succeed 
in growing them really well. They have creeping rhizomes, 
narrow foliage, and usually bear their flowers, which are 
exceedingly beautiful, singly. The plants must be grown in 
a sunny, well-drained, elevated bed of sandy soil, and 
protected from summer rains by a frame in order that 
the rhizomes may ripen. In winter their young growth must 
be protected by a covering of fern litter. The chief kinds are : 
I. atropurpurea, black and purple; I. Gatesii, creamy white 
and yellow ; I. Lortetii, lilac, brown and crimson ; I. susiana, 
grevish-blue and brown. They flower in spring. 
Finally comes the question of propagation. Irises may be 
reared from seed sown in sandy soil in a cold frame in spring ; 
by offsets after the foliage has died ; and by division of the 
rhizomes in autumn or early spring. The bulbous Irises are 
dealt with in the section devoted to Bulbs. 
Isopyrum. — I. thalictroides, the only species grown, is 
a hardy perennial, with maidenhair-like foliage, which is very 
useful for cutting for mixing with cut flowers. It grows a 
foot or so high, is a native of Europe, and bears white flowers 
in spring. The plant belongs to the Buttercup order (Ranun- 
culaceae). It may be grown in good ordinary soil on a sunny 
rockery or in a border, and should be planted in autumn or 
