THERE are two species of iris so nearly alike both in name and nature that beginners are apt to consider them as one and the same. One is called the English iris (I. Xiphioides), the other is the Spanish iris (I. Xiphium). Both are natives of the Peninsula. They belong to Spain, Portugal, and the Pyrenees, and by the men of science are regarded as scarcely specifically distinct. But in a work of this kind we must not enter into scientific questions except in a very superficial way, and it must suffice us to show, not how these two so-called species spring, as it were, from one root, but how they may be distinguished by the amateur who desires to derive from his garden some useful knowledge.

The Spanish iris flowers earlier than the English, and is the taller of the two, and the more fragrant. The Spanish iris produces a smaller flower than the English. The Spanish iris usually produces two to three flowers on a stem, and the English iris is usually one-flowered; but they both vary in this respect, and the number of flowers on a stem is no trustworthy criterion for distinguishing the species. The natural colour of the Spanish iris is azure-blue, but there are many varieties in which shades of yellow and chestnut appear. The English iris is sky-blue, with darker shades and a bold yellow spot on the external divisions. As regards their requirements and mode of growth and flowering there is no difference whatever. Where the one sort thrives, there also will the other, and they make very pretty beds and border groups. As bedding-plants, however, they are of small value, because their beauty so soon passes away.

To grow these beautiful flowers in a satisfactory manner, they should have a deep sandy soil, not of a dry starving nature, and not swampy or boggy. As border flowers both these sections of the iris family are worthy of attention, as the colours they lend to a collection of hardy plants differ much from such as commonly prevail in their season of flowering, and they are interesting flowers for observation in detail. One advantage in using these as border flowers rather than as bedders is that when the clumps die out, as they are apt to do, they are scarcely missed, whereas it is a great vexation, when beds have been well furnished and are expected to improve, to find them marred by gaps or weak places where they ought, according to the ordinary run of experiences, to be at their very best. On warm, dry, sandy soils perhaps the losses we have become familiar with do not occur. It has been our lot to be compelled to prepare soils especially for plants of this class, by carting in material, and mixing with our heavy staple; and no one accustomed to horticultural practice needs to be told that a made soil never answers its intended purpose like a soil naturally adapted for the same purpose, and which the making process is intended to imitate. However, in beds of sandy loam on a clay foundation we have grown all the more delicate kinds of iris with success fully remunerative, but we have had to endure the occurrence of occasional gaps in the plantations.

Amongst our pets for this special culture we must enumerate Iris reticulata, I. amoena, I. cristata, I. iberica, I. juncea, I. nudicaulis, I. pumila. As for the last, on heavy clay land at Hermitage, some half-dozen varieties prospered so well without any particular aid whatever that we are disposed to recommend this dwarf "Crimean iris" for any soil.

According to the legend, Iris was a messenger of Juno, who transformed her into the rainbow. But she lives in this flower, which has some rainbow colours, and in every eye that can distinguish between blue, and brown, and russet, and ruby.

The strong growing and useful German iris, or "common flag" of the gardens, is a grand plant when grown in collections, as the varieties are strangely and beautifully coloured. And as regards colour, the deep blue of the common flag is in its way unique. But the iris of the florists is Iris Kaempferi, otherwise known as I. laevigata. This is a native of Japan. It is of dwarf robust growth, and produces magnificent flowers in every variety of colour-tones, blue predominating. Some trouble has been experienced in the cultivation of this resplendent flower, and it may be of service to the reader if we give some brief practical directions. In the first place, then, it should be borne in mind that Kaempfer's iris requires a very moist soil in the growing season; it is, indeed, some-what of a marsh plant. It follows that, in preparing a bed for it in any position that is not naturally very damp, the bed should be somewhat below the general level, so as to retain much of the summer rain, as also of water given by manual labour. Another point of importance is to plant in a rich deep loamy soil, and to lay on the bed a few inches of fat manure.