February  13,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  ANI)  COTTAGE  a  ARDEN  ER. 
143 
Iris  tectorum, 
A  Birthday  Episode. 
In  the  issues  of  the  Journal  of  IlorficuJfure  for  October  17, 
1901,  page  362,  and  again  on  page  18  of  issue  for  January  2, 
1902,  notes  appear  in  reference  to  this  beautiful  Japanese  Iris. 
The  leaves  are  strong  and  vigorous,  much  resembling  those  of 
I.  laevigata,  yet  it  is  quite  distinct.  The  flowers  do  not  extend 
much  beyond  the  leaves,  but  their  size  and  brightness  cause 
them  to  be  very  attractive.  Our  figure  on  page  146  shows  the 
natural  size  and  form  very  well.  The  colour  is  violet,  prettily 
Chrysanthemum  Miss  Nellie  Pockett. 
mai’bled  'fwith  purple,  and  with  a  very  prominent  white,  purple 
mottled  fringed  beard  in  the  centre.  Mr.  Arnott,  in  his  note 
(see  last  reference)  says  that  “  he  finds  it  requires  a  warm  and 
dry  position,  either  on  the  top  of  a  sheltered  rockery,  wall,  or 
roof;  on  the  latter,  however,  it  will  not  flower  if  in  an  exposed 
position.  Two  or  three  inches  of  soil  are  quite  enough  for  it 
when  it  is  on  a  wall  or  a  slated  roof.  Like  mo.st  other  Iri.ses  of 
its  character,  it  can  stand  a  great  deal  of  drought  without  injury.” 
It  flowers  during  May  and  June;  but  very  few  gardens  possess 
this  fine  species. 
“  As  I  sat  a-thinking,”  I  remembered  a  custom  I  have  followed 
out  (I  am  chary  now  of  saying  how  long),  by  sending  you  a  birth¬ 
day  remembrancer.  It  was  a  doleful  epistle  last  year,  and  with 
a  very  good  reason.  But  what  of  the  present?  What  shall  I 
treat  of  in  a  lighter  vein?  Potatoes?  How  can  we  extract  a 
smile  from  Potatoes?  !  Well,  one  of  my  new  hybrid  crosses 
from  a  northern  latitude  of  the  U.S.A.  has  gone  into  commerce, 
or  a,t  least  will  do  so  when  a  sufficient  stock  of  it  is  grown,  so  I 
initiate  you  thus  far  to  show  that  I  have  flown  off  at  another 
tangent,  in  another  pioneering  direction 
pro  bono  publico.  I  have  others,  too,  to 
follow  on,  and  I  shall  hope  to  furnish  you 
by-and-by  with  more  sedate  articles  con¬ 
cerning  them,  and  also  to  furnish  food  for 
the  next  generation  to  come  ! 
I  will  firstly  greet  you,  publisher, 
writers,  and  readers  of  our  Journal,  by  wish¬ 
ing  you  a  happy  new  year,  and  “  many  on 
’em,”  as  they  say,  or  as  they  used  to  say,  in 
my  native  county  of  Suffolk.  Materialism 
and  beauty.  How  will  a  theme  like  that 
suit  you,  Mr.  Editor?  A  comical  criticism 
in  a  paragraph  which  appeared  on  page  559 
of  the  Journal,  December  1901,  occurs  to 
me,  re  Bouquet  a  la  Politicians.  I  will 
partly  take  it  for  my  text,  minus  the  poli¬ 
ticians,  and  call  my  title  Bouquet 
d’ Amour. 
I  was  a  bachelor  when  the  circumstance 
happened — unfortunately  I  am  now  a 
widower — but  I  remember  I  was  contem¬ 
plating  a  “  little  dinner  ”  to  invite  a  few 
friends  to  come  and  partake  of  on  that 
eventful  first  day  of  February.  I  am  not 
an  irascible  fellow%  but  occasionally  a 
difference  of  opinion  on  domestic  topics 
w'ith  those  to  whom  is  entrusted  the  dis¬ 
charge  of  those  peculiar  functions  will 
ruffle  the  temper  of  the  most  angelic  of  the 
masculine  gender,  and  make  him  as  furious 
as  that  accomplished  gentleman,  “  Blue¬ 
beard.”  There  is,  they  say,  but  one  step 
between  the  sublime  and  the  ridiculous. 
No  wonder  my  chef  de  cuisine  thought  so, 
for  I  w'as  in  a  towering  passion  in  the 
morning  to  find  the  mince  pies  spoilt  again 
— not  baked  enough — and  after  such  re¬ 
peated  tuition,  striving  to  impress  her 
with  the  fact  and  economy  of  the  thing, 
viz.,  directly  the  bread  was  taken  out  of 
the  oven  the  latter  merely  required  a  small 
quantum  of  wmod  to  engender  a  renew'ed 
heat  sufficient  for  the  baking  of  mince,  or 
any  other  fragile  pies  of  that  description 
w^hatsoever.  Alas !  for  bachelor’s  orders  (or, 
widower’s  for  that  matter),  “  What  should 
they  know  about  orders  ?”....  How'- 
ever,  the  mince  pies  w’ere  not  “  half- 
baked,”  and  the  adversary  possessed  the 
man ;  and  what  I  did  I  will  state  to  my 
.shame  and  satisfaction.  I  procured  fresh 
w  ood ;  1  caused  the  oven  to  become  re¬ 
heated.  and  I  sternly  stating  that  if 
my  chef  did  not  choose  to  make  the 
pies  according  to  specification,  and  bake 
them  properly — a  nice  healthy  brown,  fit 
for  Christians  to  partake  of — so  soon  as 
that  particular  quantity  of  wood  had  be¬ 
come  exploded,  I  would  come  and  make, 
and  cause  them  to  be  baked  myself. 
Wonderful!  Now’  I  seriou.sly  th  nk  of  it, 
,  it  certainly  was  w’onderful !  !  Tim  chef 
did  make  and  bake  some  fresh  pies  beauti¬ 
fully,  and  without  retaliating  a  single  word.  No,  she  ^'d  ii^ 
even  shake  her  fist  at  me!  I  presented  her  with  a  glass  of  port 
wine  in  the  evening.  She  deserved  a  bottle,  "^^Trode 
observ’e  in  the  height  of  all  the  morning’s  hubbub  1  stroae 
with  “  measured  steps,”  though  not  ‘‘  slow,” 
thoroughly  disgusted,  breathing  anathemas,  ^nd,  as  far  as  m^ 
recollection  serves  me,  consigning  cooks  and  bachelor’s  es 
lishinents  to  the  possession  of  all  the  caloric  powers . 
A  change  came  o’er  the  spirit  of  this  rage.  In  one  instant 
the  tiL  of  my  vituperation  and  anger  was  turned  into  shame 
and  sorrow;  and  how?  Why  at  a  love-beaming  sight  of  a  pure 
