530 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  ll,  1806. 
following  comparative  returns  of  rainfall  during  the  first  five 
months  of  the  years  undernoted  : — 
Kainfall  at  Camden  Square,  London. 
Average  ten  years, 1 
1880-89.  ( 
January. 
February. 
March. 
April. 
May. 
1-62 
1-88 
1-61 
1-74 
1-90 
•  •  •  •  «  • 
. .  . . 
•  • 
•  •  » • 
•  • 
.  .  . 
1896. 
0-78 
0-30 
3-20 
0-55 
014 
It  will  be  seen  'that  as  compared  with  the  ten  years’  average 
given  that  the  deficiency  of  the  present  season  amounts  to 
3  78  inches.  During  the  first  two  months  named  the  present 
year’s  deficiency  amounted  to  2  32  inches  ;  then  March  came  to 
the  rescue,  and  at  the  end  of  that  month  we  were  only  0  83  behind 
the  decadal  average  ;  but  then  came  the  time  of  trial,  for  only  a 
trifle  over  half  an  inch  fell  in  April,  and  only  aboat  a  fourth  of 
even  that  small  amount  in  May  ;  or,  in  other  words,  as  we  stated 
last  week,  we  have  sustained  a  loss  during  the  two  important 
“  growing  ”  months  named  of  nearly  300  tons  of  rain  to  each  acre 
of  land,  and  this,  no  doubt,  approximates  to  the  fact  over  a  very 
large  area. 
An  anxious  and  a  trying  time  it  has,  no  doubt,  been  to  many 
amateurs  and  gardeners,  especially  where  the  artificial  water  supply 
has  been  by  no  means  equal  to  requirements.  There  is  no  need 
to  wonder  that  a  considerable  amount  of  fruit  has  vanished  from 
many  trees,  but  that,  though  immediately  disappointing,  might 
have  been  advantageous  to  some  of  them  had  the  loss  not  been 
accompanied  in  too  many  instances  with  a  horde  of  caterpillars  and 
insects  of  various  kinds,  either  curling  up  the  leaves  or  converting 
them  into  mere  skeletons,  thus  inflicting  injury  of  a  permanent 
kind. 
Nor  is  there  any  wonder  that  seeds  in  gardens  and  fields  in¬ 
numerable  have  been  unable  to  germinate,  and  that  large  areas 
of  land  are  bare  which  under  normal  conditions  would  have  been 
covered  with  verdure  ;  and  again,  it  would  have  been  a  matter 
for  surprise  rather  than  the  reverse  if  the  Onion  and  Carrot 
enemies  had  not  attacked  the  enfeebled  plants  that  had  made  a 
start  in  the  battle  of  life.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  in  harsh, 
dry  soils  and  too  late  sowing  that  no  start  has  been  made  by 
seeds  such  as  those  named  ;  also  Beet,  Turnips,  and  Parsnips  which 
were  placed  in  the  ground  a  month  ago. 
It  is  said  that  dry  seasons  come  in  cycles,  and  for  the  past  few 
years  the  shallow  workers  of  land  and  late  sowers  of  seeds  have 
been  at  a  disadvantage.  Every  year  when  drought  prevails  it 
enforces  the  important  lessons  of  deep  and  thorough  culture, 
generous  land  enrichment,  and  early  sowing,  also  early  and  deep 
rather  than  late  and  shallow  planting  of  Potatoes.  Deep  planting 
can  only  be  carried  out  in  deeply  worked  land,  and  where  this 
practice  has  prevailed  the  condition  of  the  plants  in  health  and 
vigour  are  very  apparent,  and  the  crops  must  be  far  superior  to 
those  from  plants  that  are  languishing  through  restricted  root 
action  in  a  medium  altogether  too  dry  to  afford  them  half  sufficient 
means  of  support. 
Useful  lessons  may  often  be  taught  from  cultivation  on  a  small 
scale — say  in  a  field  of  allotments — if  we  are  not  too  proud  to 
learn  from  them.  We  have  lately  observed  plots  of  ground  that 
had  been  trenched  early,  the  soil  being  broken  into  small  particles 
throughout,  and  where  the  planting  and  sowing  were  practically 
completed  before  the  close  of  March,  that  now  present  a  most 
refreshing  and  encouraging  appearance  in  the  promise  of  the  crops, 
whereas  other  plots  in  ground  of  the  same  staple,  but  which  had 
been  roughly  turned  over  late  and  also  sown  and  planted  at  and 
after  the  middle  of  April,  are  almost  as  bare  as  when  the  work 
was  done.  Potatoes  are  just  struggling  through  the  surface,  and 
beyond  these  there  is  little  to  see  beyond  bare  soil. 
The  thorough  work  and  early  action,  with  the  free  use  of  the 
hoe  between  the  rows  for  arresting  evaporation,  has  been  equivalent 
to  200  tons  of  rain  per  acre,  and  affords  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
power  of  sound  intelligent  cultivation  in  minimising  the  effects  of 
the  late  extraordinary  term  of  dry  weather.  June  may  drip  as  it 
may,  and  showers  have  already  been  of  enormous  benefit,  but  it  is 
impossible  it  can  do  anything  approaching  so  much  good  to  the 
crops  of  the  laggards  as  to  those  which  were  started  in  good  time, 
and  are  now  being  helped  on  so  well.  These  are  being  “  put  in 
tune,”  but  the  others  are  bound  to  stand  out  as  violent  discords 
all  the  season  through. 
A  CHAT  ABOUT  IRISES. 
Writing  in  the  Cottage  Gardener  in  the  year  1853,  a  corre¬ 
spondent  says  ■“  It  has  often  been  a  matter  of  surprise  to  me  in 
visiting  gardens  in  various  parts  of  Great  Britain  to  find  this  beau¬ 
tiful  flower  so  little  grown.”  Nearly  half  a  century  has  passed 
away  since  these  words  were  penned,  and  mighty  changes  have 
taken  place  in  the  world  of  horticulture  ;  yet  these  words  are 
applicable  for  the  commencement  of  an  article  on  Irises  even  in 
our  own  day.  To  say  that  this  beautiful  flower  is  little  “  grown  ” 
would,  of  course,  be  stretching  a  point,  for  we  find  it  in  almost 
every  old-fashioned  garden  in  the  kingdom  ;  but  if  we  substitute 
the  word  “cultivated,”  then  the  sentence  defies  criticism. 
To  dwell  for  any  length  on  the  utility  or  beauty  of  the  Iris  is 
unnecessary,  so  well  is  it  known.  The  explanation  of  the  word  is 
symbolic  of  its  character,  taken  as  it  is  from  “  Iris— the  eye  ; 
referring  to  the  variety  and  beauty  of  the  flowers.”  The  Poor 
Man’s  Orchid  is  another  of  its  appellations,  and  for  it  no  apology  i3 
due  to  that  aristocratic  race  of  plants,  for  in  the  standards  and  falls 
of  the  Iris  flower  are  to  be  found  a  silkiness  of  texture  and 
delicacy  of  colouring  equalled  only  by  Orchids  of  the  choicest 
types.  Though  possessing  this  similarity  to  the  latter  they  have 
nothing  else  in  common,  for  the  Iris  is  truly  a  democratic  flower, 
equally  at  home  in  the  garden  of  peasant  or  peer.  A  visit  to  many 
an  old-fashioned  cottage  garden  during  the  month  of  May  would 
prove  this.  The  writer  is  acquainted  with  many  Buch  gardens 
where  the  Irises  bloom  profusely  year  by  year.  No  one  knows 
who  planted  them  or  whence  they  came  ;  the  tenements  have 
changed  hands  many  times,  but  still  they  bloom  on,  oblivious  of 
Time’s  ravages  ;  greyhaired  men  remember  plucking  the  flowers 
in  childhood,  and  that  is  all  they  know  about  them.  In  another 
instance  the  cottage  has  disappeared,  and  among  a  few  other  tena¬ 
cious  flowers  that  mark  the  site  is  a  clump  of  Irises,  which,  like  the 
running  stream  close  by,  might  say — 
“  Men  may  come  and  men  may  go,  but  I  go  on  for  ever.” 
Turning  to  the  herbaceous  border  in  more  pretentious  gardens 
we  find  no  more  familiar  occupant  than  the  Iris,  and  here  we  see 
the  force  of  the  remark  that  th3y  are  grown  but  rarely  cultivated. 
Large  clumps  of  the  blue  Iris  germanica  and  a  few  others  are 
evidence  ot  the  plant’s  powers  of  multiplication,  but  beyond  that 
little  can  be  said.  The  chances  are  that  they  were  planted,  nobody 
knows  when,  and  have  never  since  been  removed,  or  any  attempts 
made  to  increase  the  variety.  Lending  themselves  to  almost  any 
conditions  of  soil  and  position,  ornamental  whether  in  flower  or 
otherwise,  constant  in  spite  of  adverse  surroundings,  perhaps  this 
plant  has  been  considered  too  commonplace  to  receive  the  attention 
its  merits  deserve.  Mr.  F.  W.  Burbidge  in  a  recent  lecture  on 
Daffodils  quoted  a  wise  Greek  who  said,  “Take  care  of  the 
beautiful,  as  the  good  and  true  will  take  care  of  themselves.”  In  the 
Iris  we  have  something  that  is  truly  beautiful,  and  yet  has  in  a 
great  measure  bad  to  take  care  of  itself,  as  we  find  the  old- 
fashioned  Iris  germanica  was  introduced  into  this  country  so  far 
back  as  the  year  1573,  and  even  now  it  is  one  of  the  most  common 
and  best  known. 
How  rarely  one  meets  with  a  good  representative  collection  of 
Irises  even  in  gardens  where  hardy  herbaceous  flowers  are  made  a 
specialty.  Why  this  is  needs  some  explanation,  for  though  there 
is  much  in  the  flowers  to  admire  respectively,  yet  it  is  collectively 
that  they  more  fully  appeal  to  us,  as  it  is  under  these  conditions 
that  an  opportunity  is  given  of  comparing  the  different  shades  and 
richness  of  colouring,  the  contrasts  of  tints,  and  variety  of  habit, 
that  a  good  collection  of  Irises  present.  Such  a  collection  is  to 
be  found  in  the  gardens  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  at 
Chiswick,  an  inspection  of  which  prompted  the  idea  that  led  to 
these  notes. 
Though  the  cultivation  of  Irises  has  undoubtedly  been  neglected, 
yet  fortunately  some  few  horticulturists  have  been  sufficiently 
struck  by  their  unique  characteristics  as  to  make  them  a  specialty, 
and  amongst  these  was  the  late  Mr.  Shirley  Hibberd,  who  devoted 
considerable  attention  to  the  family,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining 
many  beautiful  varieties.  At  the  death  of  Mr.  Hibbeid  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  came  mto  possession  of  his  collection,  which 
was  moved  to  Chiswick,  but  unfortunately  many  of  the  plants  were 
