July 2, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
7 
Lady May Fitzwilliam, Etienne L wet, La France, Marguerite de St. Amand, 
Dupuy Jamain, Mons. E. Y. Teas, Abel Crrriere, Madame Gabriel Luizet, 
Charles Lefebvre, Madame Prosper Laugier, Adolphe Rothschild, Reynolds 
Hole, Duke of Edinburgh, Magna Charta, Senateur Vaisse, Violette Bouyer, 
Horace Vemet, Catherine Soupert, Beauty of Waltham, and Marie Baumann. 
Mr. B. R. Cant was second, and Mr. Prince third. In the class for twenty-four 
varieties, twelve Teas and twelve Hybrid Perpetuals, Messrs. Paul & Son 
were again first with La France, Francois Michelon, A. K. Williams, Ulrich 
Brunner, Camille de Rohan, Prince Arthur, Duchesse de Morny, Gbnbral 
Jacqueminot, Reynolds Hole, H.P., and Marechal Niel, Sovenir d’un Ami, 
Catherine Mermet, Niphetos, Jean Ducher, Comtesse de Nadaillac, Sunset, 
Letty Coles, Rubens (Teas). These were the best flowers on this very beautiful 
stand. 
In the class for twelve Teas or Noisettes, open to nurserymen and 
amateurs in all England, Mr. E. Claxton of the Rosery, Allerton, Liverpool, 
took first prize with a beautiful box of blooms containing Princess of Wales, 
Madame Cusin, Jean Ducher, Caroline Kuster, Alba Rosa, Souvenir d’un 
Ami, Anna Ollivier, Marie Van Houtte, Etoile de Lyon, very fine ; the Hon. 
Edith Giffard, very pretty; Comtessede Nadaillac, and Souvenir d’EliseVardon. 
Mr. Claxton also exhibited a very beautiful stand of Madame Cuzin, most 
brilliant and fresh in colour but a little rough. In the class for six of any 
one variety Canon Hodgson was first with a beautiful stand of Comtesse de 
Nadaillac, the most lovely I think of all Teas. In the class for six Roses, 
Miss C. Wake was first with Duke of Wellington, La France, Duchesse de 
Morny, Marquise de Castellane, Cloth of Gold, and Souvenir d’un Ami. 
Some very pretty stands of Roses with added foliage of Ferns and grasses 
were shown. The first prize was taken by Mi3s Welby, who also took the first 
prize for a basket, that adopted by the National Rose Society with a basket 
tastefully arranged. Miss Hawkesworth was second with one on which the 
flowers were better, but the arrangement was somewhat too lumpy. It 
should always be remembered by exhibitors that lightness and not heaviness 
should be aimed at; many a good stand is spoiled by neglecting this. I 
have seen stands otherwise very beautiful spoiled by having what I have no 
doubt the exhibitor thought were very beautiful but too heavy flowers being 
placed at the top, thus destroying all proportion between the top and 
bottom. 
Such, then, was the first Show of the season; and while much credit is 
due to the indefatigable Secretaries, the Rev. H. B. Biron and Mr. W. Mount, 
for the excellence of their arrangements, great credit must be given to those 
exhibitors who, especially those in the neighbourhood, upheld the prestige 
of the Society, for which I hope there may be a prosperous career. Cathedral 
cities, as a rule, are slow in their movements; let us hope in this case it may 
be slow and sure.—D., Deal. 
GERMAN IRISES. 
WHAT Orchids are amid the denizens of stoves and greenhouses Irises 
are amongst hardy plants—quaint in form, if not grotesque, yet stately 
and graceful, and nothing in their season—late May or early June— 
approaching them in their colours or fragrance. They are, without 
exception, the most striking and the most ornamental of the many fine 
plants with which our herbaceous borders have been enriched of late 
years. 
Irises, particularly the German or broad-leaved Iris, have yet to be 
given the place they are entitled to among hardy ornamental plants. Their 
broad ample foliage renders them very ornamental, and, when in flower, 
almost every shade of colour is found among them. Added to their 
beauty, another of their claims for general acceptance is their adaptability 
for almost every description of soil and situation, for they are very hardy 
and not at all fastidious. They will grow, indeed seem to luxuriate, 
where many plants do not—namely, in the smoky atmosphere of towns, 
It certainly is some years since I had experience of them in a town 
garden, but twenty years ago I found them among the very best of plants 
for early summer flowering near one of the largest manufacturing towns 
of the West Riding of York. 
The shrubbery herder is not the place to see them at their best, as 
the soil is impoverished by the roots of the trees or shrubs, and too dry in 
summer, or when they are making and perfecting the growth. Margins 
of water, provided the water does not rise so as to convert the soil into 
a bog, wiil suit them, and the foot of a rockwork is an appropriate position, 
as they are not alpine but valley plants. They also come effectively in 
wild or natural arrangements of plants, particularly in a hollow, in which 
naturally there is an accumulation of vegetable matter, the dibris of sur¬ 
rounding vegetation. Such positions, however, are only at the command 
of those with extensive domains, and those seeing them in such positions 
do not see them in anything like their best condition. 
To see them in all their beauty an open situation is essential, and in a 
mass if it can be afforded, clumps or masses yards across being most 
effective ; isolated plants are nevertheless very fine. The soil needs to be 
of a porous description, and yet sufficiently rich, or containing humus 
to sustain a vigorous growth. I have not seen them doing well in stiff 
clays, indeed I consider soil containing plenty of grit along with 
vegetable soil elements of their succeeding. Our soil is loam over 
gravel, but with a good dressing of well-decayed manure they do well 
and increase rapidly. Most soils, however, can be made to suit them, 
heavy soil by some opening material, and light soil by the addition of 
some moisture-holding and enriching substance. They do not like 
drought nor a wet sour soil. 
They are increased by division, which may be practised in early 
autumn or early spring, the ground having previously been well and 
deeply stirred or trenched and liberally manured. Plant so that the 
rhizomes are covered about a couple of inches, and make the soil 
moderately firm about them, and allowing a distance of fully 2 feet 
from plant to plant ; but I plant a yard apart every way, as the divisions 
are good, and this serves them about three years with space, when they 
are ready for division. At this distance the plants send up flowering stems 
nearly a yard high, and the flowers are correspondingly flue. A mulch 
over the roots in winter is shown in the summer growths, and mulching 
and watering during dry weather in summer brings a reward in the 
endurance of the blooms with the foundation of a vigorous growth and 
flowering in the season following. To thin the growth after flowering 
when it has become crowded, removing the weak, and leaving the 
stronger only fairly thin so as to admit light and air for the solidification 
of the growth, is attended with good results in respect of a good bloom, 
nothing militating so much against flowering as the breaking up into a 
number of growths which have not room for development nor an oppor- 
tun ty of perfecting. Avoid crowding, feed liberally, and assign them an 
open situation in the full sun, but sheltered from winds. 
The German Irises are particularly fine this year, the tropical heat of 
last season having no doubt ripened their growth unusually well, though 
the manure to which we treated them liberally has also in no small 
measure contributed. The species, Iris germanica, is a self, having 
purplish-blue standards and purple falls. This may be the progenitor 
of the many fine varieties we now possess, but as all the broad-leaved 
Irises pass under the broad title of I. germanica it is doubtful ; indeed, 
we have varieties of several species included under that head, as amoena 
aphylla, neglecta, pallida, squallens, and variegata, the last being a fine 
plant for isolated specimens on grass, and these are so intermingled as to 
be almost impossible of separation, though it may be noted in the flower 
or their marking, together forming a group of matchless beauty. Amongst 
the most noteworthy is the one chosen as representing the type—viz., 
I. atropurpurea (fig. 1, page 3), the flowers of which, both of its stan¬ 
dards and falls, are rich purple—very fine indeed, and as sweet as Lily of 
the Valley. It is one of the earliest flowering, and one of the freest. 
I. spectabilis is another purple self, and very desirable for its early 
flowering, it being one of the earliest, and is very free. I. pallida 
dalmatica, though not a true representative of I. germanica, is generally 
included in the broad-leaved Irises, and has very large flowers, being one 
of the be3t. The standards are lavender, the fall being also lavender 
tinged with purple. I. pallida speciosa is a very deep purple or violet 
self, and very beautiful. Othello is another purple self of a very rich shade 
of blue. Chameleon, with its deep blue standards and violet falls veined 
with white, is very attractive. Celeste is a lavender self, albeit it has an 
orange beard ; and Madame Paquette has reddish purple standards and 
rosy purple falls, very flue. 
