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THE FLORISTS JOURNAL. 
after those of Xiphiodes, as they come up so much sooner : in 
every other respect the treatment is uniform. 
I. Persica requires the greenhouse ; it is a very pretty species, 
and is highly odoriferous. I. Tuberosa is another very ornamental 
species ; it is tolerably hardy, and with the same treatment as that 
of Xiphiodes will flower freely. 
The varieties of English Iris are raised from seed. This should 
he sown in October, on an east border, sown thin and covered 
with about an inch of earth ; they require no further care, with 
the exception of weeding, till the third year, when they should be 
planted out; and when in bloom, which will be the following 
summer, the good flowers should be marked and the bad ones 
thrown away. 
The Iris is the type of an order, the component plants of which 
are found in nearly every quarter of the globe. Many of them 
are of great use in medicine ; and all of them great favourites with 
the gardener on account of their beautiful, yet frail flowers. 
R. Plant. 
The How, near Halsted . 
THE FLORIST’S LETTER-BOX. 
As many of the questions put to us, as well as the hints with which we are 
favoured, through the kindness of our numerous, rapidly-increasing, and, we 
may add, most agreeable and intelligent correspondents as many of these 
are much too important for mere notices on our monthly wrapper, and yet 
somewhat too brief for appearing as separate articles, we have resolved to 
devote a certain portion of every succeeding Number to them under the above 
title; and we earnestly solicit an increase in the number of such correspond¬ 
ents, whether they have advice to offer or to ask for. Both shall be equally 
well received, and meet with the most candid and impartial consideration. It 
matters not how much soever the opinions of our correspondents may differ' 
from our own opinions, nor is the fact of what is advanced being erroneous an 
insuperable exception against it; for in all experimental sciences, and of 
course in floriculture among the rest, error is often the lever by means of 
which truth is raised from the quarry. 
One prefatory word more : we have received several letters complaining 
that too many of our pages are devoted to “ exotics,” and too few to those 
“ common flowers ” which maybe cultivated by persons in all situations of 
life. Now, in the matter of new and choice exotics, which are yet rare, and 
