Eighty-nine species. Chiefly hardy bulbs. I. clandestina; I. crassi-folia; and I. deflexa, require the shelter of a greenhouse. The soil cannot well be too sandy for them. Seed or division of the roots.

Dr. Lindley gives the following directions for cultivating the English and Spanish species: -

"About August prepare a bed two feet deep, the soil of which must be composed of equal parts of rich loam, sandy peat, and either well rotted dung or leaf mould, all well incorporated together. The beginning of September, plant the bulbs about three inches deep, placing a little fine sand around each, and afterwards cover and level the sur-ace; nothing else will be required except stirring the surface of the soil in the spring. The Irises will bloom about the middle of June, and the seeds will ripen in the beginning of August; when, if it is required, the bulbs should be taken up; but it must be observed that when they are removed they seldom flower well the following season, and therefore should not be replanted more than once in five or six years. When the bulbs are taken up they should be placed in dry sand for about a month, and afterwards planted in the manner before mentioned. Seeds of Irises should be sown in drills in September, in light sandy soil; they will come up the following spring, but the young bulbs should remain for two or three years before they are removed.

"The best way to treat the Persian Iris, is to place the roots, in October, in pots filled with a mixture of either sandy loam well drained and leaf mould, or sandy peat and well rotted dung, and set them in some dry pit for the winter, and give but little water until the spring, and when they begin to show their blooms, plant them in the open bed. If this is carefully done they will be gay during April and the beginning of May, but they must be protected from the spring frost when in bloom, or they will not last long in flower. Persian Irises are tender, and will not survive the winter in the open border, unless the situation is dry, for they suffer more from the effects of damp than cold. They may also be grown like hyacinths in glasses tilled with water, in the windows of silting rooms, and are desirable for such a situation, as two or three plants will scent a room. They also succeed in pure sand if the roots are strong.

"The roots must be taken up in the open beds every season, and either potted or preserved in sand during the winter, but if not potted before the spring they become exhausted, and do not flower well, whereas if planted in the open bed in autumn, they are almost sure to perish." - Gard. Chron.