compass; the flower that in the dawn of recorded beauty
antedates the rose, the fragments of the scattered rainbow of creation
that rests upon the garden, not for a single hour or day or week, but
for a long season. The early bulbous _Iris histriodes_ begins the season
in March, and the Persian Iris follows in April. In May comes the sturdy
German Iris of old gardens, of few species but every one worthy, and to
be relied upon in mass of bloom and sturdy leafage to rival even the
peony in decorative effect. Next the meadows are ribboned by our own
blue flags; and the English Iris follows and in June and July meets the
sumptuous Iris of Japan at its blooming season, for there seems to be
no country so poor as to be without an Iris.

There are joyous flowers of gold and royal blue, the Flower de Luce
(Flower of Louis) of regal France, and sombre flowers draped in deep
green and black and dusky purple, "The widow" (_Iris tuberosa_) and the
Chalcedonian Iris (_Iris Susiana_), taking its name from the Persian
Susa. _Iris Florentina_ by its powdered root yields the delicate violet
perfume orris, a corruption doubtless of Iris.

Many forms of root as well as blossom has the Iris, tuberous, bulbous,
fibrous, and if the rose may have a garden to itself, why may not the
Iris in combination with its sister lilies have one also? And when my
eyes rest upon a bed of these flowers or upon a single blossom, I long
to be a poet.

* * * * *

Now to begin: will your shady place yield you a bed four feet in width
by at least twenty in length? If so, set Barney to work with pick and
spade. The top, I take it, is old turf not good enough to use for
edging, so after removing this have it broken into bits and put in a
heap by itself. When the earth beneath is loosened, examine it
carefully. If it is good old mellow loam without the pale yellow colour
that denotes the sterile, undigested soil unworked by roots or
earthworms, have it taken out to eighteen inches in depth and shovelled
to one side. When the bad soil is reached, which will be soon, have it
removed so that the pit will be three feet below the level.

Next, let Barney collect any old broken bits of flower-pots, cobbles, or
small stones of any kind, and fill up the hole for a foot, and let the
broken turf come on top of this. If possible, beg or buy of Amos Opie a
couple of good loads of the soil from the meadow bottom where the red
bell-lilies grow