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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  6,  1901. 
intended.  The  roots,  he  informs  us,  are  sweet-smelling,  and  the  plant 
was  cultivated  for  these  as  well  as  for  its  flowers,  which,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Rose  and  the  Lily,  were  to  be  gathered  before  expanding. 
Of  its  popularity  Hill  says,  “The  Flouredeleuce  is  a  floure  well 
knowen  to  all  persons,  bearing  leaves  both  bigger,  flatter,  and  larger 
than  that  called  {the  Sedge” — a  statement,  by  the  way,  that  disposes 
of  the  supposition  that  Iris  pseudacorus  is  the  Fleur  de  Lys,  and 
is  further  of  interest  as  demonstrating  the  fact  that  the  people 
of  the  North  of  England,  as  well  as  Soottish  folks,  are  correct  in 
calling  the  wild  Iris  the  Sedge,  or  “  Segg  ”  as  it  is  pronounced.  Like 
other^common  flowers,  the  Fleur  de  Lys  was  by  no  means  confined  to 
that  one  name.  The'most  fanciful  of  its  names  is  that  of  Spenser,  which 
he  employs  twice  in  his  poems,  firBt  in  the  “  Faerie  Queene,” 
where  he  calls  it  the  “sumptuous  Belamoure”  of  the  “Lilly;”  and 
again  in  sonnet  Ixiv.,  in  which,  likening  his  love  to  a  garden  of 
sweet  flowers,  he  mentions  “  Her  snowy  browes  like  budded 
Bellamoures.”  I  know  of  no  other  instance  where  this  name  occurs. 
“  Orris  ”  is,  however,  a  very  common  name,  and  further  attests  to 
the  commonness  of  the  white  Iris.  It  is,  of  course,  simply  the  latter 
word,  or  “  Ireos  ”  modified  by  everyday  use.  Garden  Flags  is  one 
of  the  oldest  names  applied  to  Iris,  germanica,  and  for  a  very  long 
time  this  species’was  almost  solely  familiarly  so  known,  and  this  with 
I.  florentina  and  I.  pallida,  the  two  latter  being  both  used  medicinally> 
are  perhaps  the  oldest  cultivated  Irises. 
The  Spanish  and  “Portingale”  Irises  mentioned  by  Lyte  were 
uncommon  in  his  day,  and  it  is  somewhat  curious  that  these 
(I.  Xiphium)  are  found  in  French  books  as  the  true  Irises.  The 
deliciously  sweet-scented  I.  graminea  also  appears  as  an  early  inhabitant 
of  English  'gardens,  though  very  rare,  and  following  these  at  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century  I.  Susiana,  with  its  noble,  and  withal 
strangely  coloured  blooms,  created  what  we  should  now  call  a  veritable 
sensation  in  the  gardens  of  virtuosos.  All  these,  and  many  more> 
including  the  Gladwyn  and  wild  Iris,  assumed,  with  some  distinguishing 
designation,  the  old  name  of  Fleur  de  Lys,  but  in  the  beginning  no 
doubtfthat  name  was  strictly  limited  in  its  application.  And  now 
why  [  should  not  we  revert  to  the  old  custom,  and  accepting  Iris 
florentina  as  the  type,  extend  to  it  and  to  the  Iris  germania  group, 
with  I.  pallida,  the  distinctive  name  of  Fleur  de  Lys?  and  I  think, 
if  I  may  venture  to  say  so,  that  it  ought  to  be  spelled  as  above,  because 
I  have  repeatedly  known  it  to  be  pronounced  Fleur-de-fee,  from  a 
mistaken  impression  that  the  s  in  Us  was  silent.  With  “  Lys  ”  there 
could  occur  no  mistake  of  this  nature. 
It  remains  that  a  few  notes  as  to  their  adaptability  to  certain 
phases  of  garden  treatment  be  considered.  They  are  now  not 
infrequently  arranged  along  with  shrubs  in  good-sized  groups,  but 
no  doubt  the  best  results  are  only  to  be  reaped  when  they  are 
cultivated  in  good  garden  soil.  In  borders  of  mixed  hardy  plants, 
when  properly  treated,  they  produce  an  effect  of  much  value  at  a 
time  of  year  when  these  borders  are  otherwise  somewhat  uninteresting. 
But  they  must  not  be  planted  in  small  scraps,  but  in  bold  masses, 
and  so  neai  the  front  of  the  borders  as  to  show  all  their  varied 
beauty  of  colouring  and  of  form.  When  well  done  to,  the  most 
glorious  of  all  these  rhkomatous  forms  is  Iris  pallida,  producing  as 
it  does  numerous  flowers  expanded  at  one  time  on  each  stalk,  but 
there  truly  is  no  cultivated  kind  but  is  beautiful.  I  find  that  they 
thoroughly  appreciate  each  year  in  spring  a  slight  dressing  of  rich  soil 
scattered  over  and  about  the  centre  of  the  plants  ;  and  an  occasional 
application  of  manure,  fine  dry  pigeon  dung  being  very  suitable,  is  an 
effective  aid  to  large  and  well-coloured  flowers.  Soot  is  another 
simple  manure  that  suits  them  well.  Large  groups  if  treated  thus 
each  year  continue  in  good  condition  for  an  indefinite  period. — 
R.  Brotherston.  ’ 
[The  illustration  of  German  Irises  on  the  opposite  page  helps  the 
reader,  in  the  absence  of  real  flowers,  to  judge  of  the  exquisite  beauty 
and  “symmetry  of  mould”  that  characterises  the  German  Irises. 
Surely  we  are  correct  to  say  that  nothing  now  abloom  in  the  hardy 
plant  gardens  excels,  and  few  subjects  match,  those  of  this  varied 
genus.]  e 
School  Gardening. 
School  gardening  is  a  subject  that  is  now  receiving  a  great  amount 
of  attention  from  an  educational  point  of  view,  and  it  is  one  that  may 
be  fraught  with  considerable  contingencies  in  its  promising  course  of 
gaining  greater  application.  Although  to  many  it  might  appear  as 
being  an  experimental  effort  proceeding  from  a  sort  of  superfluous 
enthusiasm,  in  all  probability  leading  to  few  practical  results  of 
enduring  value,  those  who  warmly  favour  the  scheme  may  be  equally 
confident  of  the  permanent  advantages  to  be  derived  from  it  considered 
in  relation  to  the  present  scope  of  general  school  work.  In  this 
connection  it  will,  perhaps,  be  generally  conceded  that  no  subjeot  that 
has  similarly  occasioned  the  practical  attention  of  the  Board  of 
Education  involves  more  important  prospective  possibilities  than  the 
application  of  gardening  to  the  curriculum  of  rural  schools.  Advancing 
from  the  first  steps  that  have  resulted  in  what  is  claimed  as  being  a 
demonstration  of  the  benefioial  effect  upon  the  growth  and  physical 
development  of  pupils,  it  will  no  doubt  be  afforded  greater  opportunities 
of  becoming  widely  established  in  England  and  Wales,  and  may  be 
destined  to  have  further  results  than  at  the  present  time  can  be 
accurately  foreseen.  It  is  certainly  much  too  wide  a  subjeot  to  admit 
of  any  attempt  to  justly  measure  results  by  anticipation,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  of  some  of  the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  a  judicious 
treatment  of  the  subject  at  the  commencement,  within  the  limits  of 
elementary  practical  lines,  and  carefully  fostering  it  in  its  future  growth 
and  fruition. 
In  a  few  necessarily  brief  observations,  it  is  not  possible  to  do  more 
than  give  expression  to  a  genuine  appreciation  of  a  scheme  that  is 
expressly  intended  to  impart  to  rural  school  life  a  greater  growing 
interest  in  its  snrroundings,  designed  to  encourage  the  pupils  to  acquire 
at  least  a  good  elementary  practical  knowledge  of  a  subjeot  calculated 
to  afford  them  profitable  instruction  combined  with  pleasure.  The 
thought  of  the  tuition  being  able  or  likely  to  bring  greater  contentment, 
is  worth  cherishing,  more  if  thereby  they  may  be  the  better  fitted  in 
the  future  to  contribute  in  a  practical  manner  to  a  solution  of  a 
problem  that  has  assumed  rather  large  proportions  as  an  awkward 
social  puzzle  difficult  to  disentangle  or  deal  with  successfully.  It  is  a 
subject  that  requires  no  special  pleading,  for  it  to  be  received  with 
favour  by  those  who  are  in  the  best  positions  to  furnish  the  most 
valuable  help  in  extending  the  adoption  of  the  scheme  wherever  it 
may  be  deemed  to  be  desirable. 
The  endeavour  to  make  village  life  more  interesting,  and  there¬ 
fore  more  attractive  to  the  sons  of  those  engaged  in  agricultural  work, 
is  deserving  of  every  attention  and  encouragement  that  can  be 
bestowed  on  it.  The  “  oircular  to  managers  and  teachers  of  rural 
schools,”  issued  by  the  Board  of  Education  as  far  back  as  April,  1900, 
evinces  the  official  interest  that  is  being  taken,  and  may  be  approvingly 
referred  to  as  indicating  the  scope  of  the  work  sanctioned  for  the 
purpose  of  “  encouraging  the  ohildren  to  gain  an  intelligent  knowledge 
of  the  common  things  that  surround  them  in  the  country,”  and  to 
“  train  them  to  some  of  the  practical  dexterities  of  rural  life.” 
Included  in  the  work  to  be  done  outside  the  school  walls  the  Board 
of  Education  attaches  considerable  importance  to  that  of  the  cultiva¬ 
tion  of  a  school  garden,  and  it  is  in  respect  to  this  more  particularly 
that  the  greatest  interest  will  be  evoked.  It  may  be  frankly  admitted 
that  it  is  precisely  the  point  at  which  questionings  naturally  arise. 
Practical  men  whose  lives  are  full  of  the  best  experience  will  estimate 
the  value  of  the  scheme  by  the  quality  of  the  teaching  and  the  method 
adopted  of  imparting  it  to  the  pupils,  and  they  may  consider  that 
anything  like  a  stereotyped  plan  as  being  not  altogether  applicable 
to  the  varying  conditions  under  whioh  it  is  hoped  to  prove  successful. 
A  school  garden  for  educational  purposes  is  undoubtedly  an  excellent 
adjunct  to  the  school-room,  but  theoretically  considered  as  a  means  of 
teaching  the  art  of  gardening  it  may  be  found  practically  to  have  a 
similar  relation  to  that  of  a  school  drawing  class  to  a  school  of  art. 
Opinions,  of  course,  may  differ  as  to  the  correctness  of  this  view,  but 
the  most  sanguine  well-wishers  of  the  scheme  may  do  well  to  bear  it 
in  mind  lest  danger  to  the  progress  and  success  might  arise  from 
undertaking  more  than  could  be  satisfactorily  accomplished  within  the 
limits  of  the  means  at  their  disposal.  The  concluding  paragraph  of  the 
official  circular  previously  referred  to  urges  “  teachers  in  rural  schools 
trained  in  urban  centres,  whose  previous  education  has  not  enabled 
them  to  obtain  a  full  knowledge  of  the  main  principles  and  phenomena 
of  rural  life  and  activities,  to  attend  such  holiday  courses  and  classes  as 
may  be  placed  within  their  reach  for  this  purpose  by  county  councils  or 
other  local  committees.”  This  forms  an  important  suggestive  appendix 
to  the  oircular,  and  gives  rise  to  a  host  of  practical  reflections. — 
J.  E.  Jefferies. 
