Ill 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Loasa auruntiaca. — J. A.M. — This beau- 

 tiful annual is quite unfit for flowering 

 in pots. It is half hardy, and requires 

 therefore to be raised in heat, and kept 

 growing in pots under glass till the 

 second week in May. It should then 

 be planted out in a loamy or peaty 

 border, against a south wall, or to cover 

 a bower or trellis. If fairly dealt with, 

 it will run twenty feet. If you must 

 grow it in a pot, pot them singly in pots 

 as large as you can conveniently deal 

 with, and insert in the pots tall rods 

 drawn to a point at top, to form a cone, 

 or any wire design that pleases you. 

 Train them to the supports in regular 

 spirals, barber' s-pole fashion ; this 

 allows of great extension of the plant, 

 without demanding excessively tall 

 trellises. In training and managing 

 these plants in pots, you will probably 

 frequently suffer from the stinging 

 effects of their leaves ; they should at 

 all times be kept out of reach of chil- 

 dren, as they are both stinging and 

 poisonous . 



Culture of the Lilt of the Valley for 

 Exhibition. — The lilies of the valley 

 shown at the late flower shows have 

 been particularly beautiful. Can you 

 oblige " A Constant Subscriber" by giv- 

 ing a description of the way in which so 



[\ ranch. flower is produced, with the very 

 small proportion of leaves? — Sunninghill. 

 [The following directions for cultivating 

 lily of the valley for exhibition are sup- 

 plied by Mr. Howard, gardener to James 

 Brand, Esq., of Balham ; Sunninghill 

 cannot do better than follow so safe a 

 guide : — " The lily of the valley is not 

 particular as to the aspect in which it is 

 placed or planted, but does not like to 

 be too much shaded with trees, or 

 roasted too much in a walled garden by 

 the reflection upon it of sun-heat. The 

 soil should be light and sandy, trenched 

 two feet deep, digging in plenty of good 

 rotten cow or horse manure and leaf- 

 mould. Plant four rows in a bed in 

 patches of twelve or eighteen crowns to 

 a patch (each patch in a circle of six 

 inches), about eighteen inches from 

 clump to clump, and two feet from row 

 to row. Take care to plant them 



diagonally, thus — - 



Do not 



bury tha crowns above half an inch, as 

 they will not ripen well if buried deeply. 



The best time to plant is October or 

 November, but they may be planted any 

 time from October to March. After 

 they begin to grow in the spring, keep 

 the surface well hoed and open all sum- 

 mer, and before the hot weather sets in 

 lay an inch of long dung between the 

 rows and plants, so as to keep the soil 

 from getting too dry. When the hot 

 weather sets in, water well twice a week 

 in case the weather is dry, taking care 

 to saturate the border a foot or two 

 deep, to persuade the roots to go down 

 after the dung ; but if you only sprinkle 

 the top over, the roots will come up to 

 the surface, and the heat of the sun will 

 kill them, so that when you want to 

 take up your patches in the autumn, they 

 will have but poor weak crowns instead 

 of good strong ones. When the leaves 

 die down, they may be taken up and 

 potted in as small-sized pots as the 

 patches can be got into. Use light rich 

 sandy soil, well drained, and plunge the 

 pots in coal-ashes or sand out of doors 

 until wanted to start. They may be 

 started at 50' in October, and gradually 

 raised to 70" to get them into bloom in 

 December. In February or Marcli they 

 can be got into flower in three weeks by 

 placing them in a temperature of 65' to 

 70'. A few of the leading nurserymen 

 (Veitch of Chelsea, and Low of Clap- 

 ton) have imported them from Holland 

 for the last few years, from their bulb 

 growers, all ready for forcing, in very 

 fine condition, and the quantity imported 

 increases very largely every year. It 

 strikes me that they may be grown as 

 well in England as on the Continent, if 

 they are well cared for. They want a 

 year's rest after forcing, and they are 

 all the better to stand a couple of years 

 before you pot them, for they gain 

 strength, and can be got in flower earlier. 

 It is bad policy to grow them in pots a 

 season before forcing them, as you de- 

 rive no benefit from it. If you have 

 not good crowns to start with in the 

 autumn, you must not expect any flower. 

 They do not stir at the roots until after 

 the flowers are thrown up. The flowers 

 should show up the first, and then the 

 leaves follow; itis rather difficult to induce 

 them to throw any leaves in the autumn 

 at all. You may get from twelve to 

 forty-five spikes on a good patch of plants 

 in a 32-sized pot, with from eleven to 

 thirteen bells on a spike. The leaves 



