THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
125 
third year. Feed them well. The flowers of sanguined 
do not rise so high above the foliage as do those of the 
Siberian irises. 
Iris laevigata, indigenous to Eastern Siberia, China 
and Japan, is another strong-growing, tufted species, and 
the parent of Kaempfer’s irises. It has handsome deep 
plum-purple flowers that appear about the middle or end 
of June, some two weeks sooner than its magnificent 
varieties. 
Kaempfer’s irises are the most gorgeous of the iris 
family, and fortunately hardy, robust and copious bloom¬ 
ers. Their flowers are flat, fully four to six inches across, 
some single and others double, and of many shades of 
color from the purest white to the deepest purple, violet 
and plum, and pencilled, striped and marbled. It revels 
in rich, moist ground. Although the plants thrive well in 
sunny places, warm sunshine destroys the flowers, and it 
is best to grow them where they can be shaded a little on 
the south and west sides. If they are in vigorous growth 
and forming large clumps, lift, divide and replant them 
every second or third year ; but do not do so to all of them 
in one season ; rather lift some this year and some next 
year, and thus keep up a stock of young plants and vigor¬ 
ous blooming clumps. Kaempfer’s irises grow readily 
from seeds, and seedlings should bear some flowers when 
two years old. 
Among the other commoner irises we have many beau¬ 
tiful garden flowers. Iris pumila is the little one we find 
in bloom from the first to the middle of May, and there 
are many varieties of it; some have blue, and others 
violet, purple, yellow, straw or white colored flowers. 
The ground iris (/. chamceiris'), dark purple ; our crested 
iris ( 7 . cristata), from the Alleghanies, blue ; and slender 
dwarf iris ( 7 . verna), violet blue, from the hillsides of 
the South, are likewise very small species, and come into 
blossom about the middle of May. These little plants are 
well suited for clumps in the borders or edgings to beds 
or borders. They spread by surface rhizomes, and the 
crested iris, especially, spreads widely. The dingy iris (I. 
■lurida), brownish flowers, is not so pretty as some of the 
others, but worthy of a place in our gardens, because of 
its earliness, the middle of May. Thunberg’s iris (/. ensa- 
ta), pale blue, blossomed with me about the 20th of May, 
and I. tenax, lilac flowers and slender leaves, May 25. 
About the end of May and first of June the beautiful 
and fragrant white Florentine iris is in perfection ; so, too, 
are 7 . nudicaulis, with violet-purple flowers; Guelden- 
stsedt’s iris, white and yellow ; variegated iris, yellowish, 
and the numerous varieties of German irises so common 
in most all gardens. At the same time, our larger blue 
flag is becoming abundant in our swamps and meadows. 
Immediately succeeding these, and in perfection during 
the second and third weeks of June, are a great many 
vigorous, showy irises that will grow and blossom freely 
in any common garden soil. These include : I. pallida, 
pale violet-purple, grand ; I. plicata, streaked, white and 
purple ; 7 . neglecta, purple-blue, veined with purple-red; 
7 . sambucina, smoky purple and yellowish ; 7 . squalens 
not unlike the last; 7 . Sibirica, in variety from lilac blue 
to whitish, and 7 . sanguinea, deep plum-purple ; 7 . Jlaves- 
cens, pale yellow; 7 . graminea, lilac-purple, with grass¬ 
like leaves; 7 . setosa, resembles 7 . Sibirica, but is more 
showy; 7 . tenax, lilac-purple, keeps in bloom a long time, 
rather scarce ; 7 . Virginica, our wild slender blue iris; 
7 . lacustris. Lake Michigan blue iris. 
From early in June and lasting into July the common 
yellow flag ( 7 . pseud-acorus, of Europe blooms with equal 
freedom in our borders or on the sides of ponds, but it is apt 
to become a pest, as seedlings from it come up so freely. 
Toward the end of June we have the tall 7 . Monnieri, 
with lemon-colored flowers; 7 . ochroleitca, yellow and 
white ; 7 . spuria, lilac ; the Spanish iris ; 7 . lavigata ; 
and the English iris. Although they may have been in 
bloom some weeks, on the first of July we will yet find the 
slender blue and larger blue-flags blooming in our swamps. 
The English iris and Kaempfer’s gorgeous varieties usher 
in July. 
I have grown all of the above, and know them to be 
well suited for cultivation in our gardens. 
William Falconer. 
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
I N our childhood days chrysanthemums, then known as 
artemisias, were grown in every garden. We greatly 
admired those old plants because they prolonged the 
season of flowers, and their dull, dusky colors were a 
cheerful contrast to surrounding nature in a country 
where at that time the golden rod had no habitation. 
Humble as were the chrysanthemums of that day, they 
kept alive the love of the beautiful until progress and 
development have given us the chrysanthemum of to-day, 
a flower that has kept pace with the- improvements in the 
arts, sciences and intellectual development of the past 
forty years. The chrysanthemum is no longer simply tole¬ 
rated and admired, it has become a necessity in nearly 
every garden. 
• We promised in our last number to give full cultural 
■i&tructions for the chrysanthemum, and we do not know 
of any better way of keeping our promise than by quoting 
the following from an admirable lecture on this subject 
by John Thorpe. In all gardening operations the wisest 
plan is to closely imitate those who are the most success¬ 
ful, and the instruction here given is particularly valuable 
just now, as the time for selection and planting is at 
hand. 
“ Many are desirous of having large flowers, and would 
be glad to have such as are often seen on the exhibition 
table. With this end in view, time and attention must be 
given, and there must be a sacrifice in quantity—the plants 
must not be pinched as often, consequently there will not 
be as many shoots, and they will be taller and not nearly 
as bushy. Some of our plants have been five feet high, 
with eight shoots and not more than twenty flowers on 
each plant, this being a very liberal number. Where the 
