VOL. XXXVIII, No. 31. I 
WHOLE No. 1340. I 
• PRICE KTVE CENTS, 
l $2.00 PER TEAR. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 2, 1879. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by the Kural Publishing Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. — Entered at the Poet-Office at New York City, N. Y.. as second-class matter.] 
the same hue. The falls are white, veined with 
black lines, densely spotted and blotched with 
reddish-brown. 
Ikts ljjvigata (Kaempferi), indigenous to 
Eastern Siberia, Northern China and Japan, is 
hardy and thrifty and bears its very deep pur¬ 
ple blossoms iu June. But the varieties of 
lajvigata that have been recently introduced 
from Japau, eclipse in size or showiness any¬ 
thing in the way of Irises we ever knew. The 
flowers are flat, from five to seven inches 
across, and of every shade of color from the 
purest white to the deepest purple, and they 
are also most gaudily variegated—penciled and 
blotched. These varieties are among the most 
showy of all known hardy herbaceous plants, 
aud they come into bloom from two to four 
weeks later than the typical species, than 
which, also, most of them are far more robust. 
Iu the middle of June, laevigata itself was at its 
best bloom with us, but not one of its varieties 
that we have got, opened till the first of July, 
aud even now (July 10th), though most of 
them are in their heydey, some have not yet 
begun to open: and of all the Irises we pos¬ 
sess, except the Yellow Flag, these forms of 
laevigata are the most thrifty aud robust, and 
certainly copiously floriferous. The bulbous- 
rooted section, the English and Spanish Irises, 
for example, are uow, by many authorities, 
separated from the genus Iris, and put by 
themselves into a new genus, called 
Xiphion, 
but in this garden we have not changed their 
generic name, but call them Irises, as we used 
to. They are a set of little beauties, and all 
well fitted for window-gardening. In the 
out-door garden, I. reticulata, for instance, 
strengthens and multiplies with each succeed¬ 
ing year, whereas others, like I. juncea, Sisy- 
riuebium, and Persica, unless given a suitable 
position, are apt to become weaker each year 
or disappear altogether. To treat them suc¬ 
cessfully, grow them in open, warm nooks and 
in deep, well-drained, sandy soil. I. Kolpa- 
kowskiaua (a new species fromTurkistan, and 
the earliest with us), Persica, v.aucasica, aud 
reticulata, are among our earliest spring flow¬ 
ers ; some, like reticulata and Persica, are de- 
IRISES 
WILLIAM FALCONER, 
In many old, couutry gardens the Iris, or 
Flower-de-Luce, is one of the mainstays, and 
very showy it is, too. in spring aud early sum¬ 
mer ; but iu city and fashionable gardens the 
dear old Irises are almost forgotten. The 
brilliaueeof Pelargoniums, Coleuses, and other 
paraphernalia of summer, together with the 
ridiculous vulgarity of houseleek hills, have 
60 corrupted the general taste as to almost 
erase a likiug for our old-fashioned garden 
hardy flowers. Irises are widely distributed 
throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and par¬ 
ticularly abound in Mediterranean Europe, 
Northern Africa, the Caucasus, aud the moun¬ 
tains of Turkey and Persia; Siberia, Noithern 
China and Japau also add conspicuously to the 
list, aud North America contributes uot a few. 
From the fact that our Blue Flag and 
Boston Ins grow wild iu damp meadow 
aud marshy lauds, we might naturally 
suppose that wet soil would be indispen¬ 
sable to their well-beiug; but it i» not so, 
for they grow uud flourish iu the ordi¬ 
nary gardeu border; indeed, the Euro¬ 
pean Yellow Flag is quite at home with 
us, growing iu the water alongside of 
Pond Lilies aud pickerel weeds, aud also 
in the flower-beds associated with Peut- Y; 
stemons aud Columbines. They grow 
well in clayey or gravelly land, iu open 
6uuny spots, shady corners, or naturalized 
in half-wild places; but they revel iu rich, 
sandy loam. In planting, keep the root- 
stocks on the surface; because, if you 
bury them, iu damp, muggy summer 
weather they are sure to rot off alarm- ^ 
iugly. 1 
The Crested Iris of the AUeghauies, 
8pring Iris of the South, aud Dwart Gar¬ 
deu Iris of Europe, are all pretty little 
plants with bluish flowers, and well fitted 
as edgiugs for shrubbery or other bor¬ 
ders. Iris Hartwogii is a ‘•new" kind 
from California; it has cream-colored 
flowers, is dwarf, hardy, and blossoms 
copiously in June. The varieties of the 
German Iris are the commonest iu gar¬ 
dens, and many of them are quite haud- 
sotue. The Pale-blue iris (pallida) is a 
showy and noble kind, aud the Elder- 
sceuted, Variegated ."Siberian and its vari¬ 
eties, Golden (Mouuicrii), Grass-leaved, 
Copper-colored (fulva), Wall (teetonim); 
Mourning (tiusiana), aud Yellowish Irises 
(ochroleuca and tlavesceus) are all good 
gardeu sorts. But the finest yellow-llow- 
ered Iris I know of, is I. aurea, a native 
of the Himalaya Mouutaiua, aud now 
(July 10) in bloom with us; its flowers 
are a deep golden yellow. 
Iris Ibekica is a small but uncom¬ 
monly haudsome-llowered species, a na¬ 
tive of the Caucasus and the mouutaius 
of Armenia aud the north of Persia, and 
a recent, applicable aud valued iutro- 
ductiou to our gardens. The standards 
are a very pale purple—almost white— 
faintly streaked or veined aud spotted 
near the base with a darker hue; and the 
falls are dull red with tawuy streaks, aud 
have an oval, black, velvety blotch in the 
center of each. 
Iris Ibeiuca var. insionis, is oue of 
the varieties of this species, and the sub¬ 
ject of the annexed illustration, which 
originally appeared iu the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle. It was fouud among a batch 
of roots imported some three years ago 
by a Plant and Bulb Company, Colches¬ 
ter, England. In this Iris the standards are, 
in color, lilac-white, veined and thickly 
spotted throughout with a deeper tiut of 
FLORICULTURAL HINTS 
To have Pelargoniums bloom in mid¬ 
winter, or before, it is necessary to take 
cuttings now. Any sort of a box, three 
inches or more deep, filled with sand, will 
answer for a propagating box. This 
should be kept moist and exposed to the 
morning sun- Many cultivate the same 
old plauts for years. But thriftier speci¬ 
mens and more flowers are secured by 
raising new plants from cuttings every 
year. Y'ouug plauts, moreover, take up 
less room in the house or conservator}-; 
they are more symmetrical, and the leaves 
are larger and brighter. 
All hardy shrubs may uow be layored, 
and strong young plauts will bo ready for 
transplanting in the spring. 
The Great-panicled Hydrangea (H. pani- 
culata graud.) is now showing its flower- 
buds. Liquid manure plentifully applied 
at this time will insure panicles twice the 
size which would otherwise develop. 
This plaut cannot endure drought. The 
leaves wilt and the shrub during August 
puts on a sorrowful look far from pleasing. 
