1869.] NOTES ON LILIUM GIGANTEUM AND AURATUM. 131 



or pruning scissors to the desired thickness. In this way we may provide, in a 

 very few minutes, a neat and efficacious shelter or screen, which will afford just 

 as much air and light as may be desired. 



By this simple mode of protection almost any plant may be made to thrive, 

 and in two years it will have made more healthy luxuriant growth, and become 

 better established, so as to show more of its true character, than a neighbouring 

 unsheltered plant would have done in ten years. A friend to whom I sent some 

 choice young conifers, and whom I advised to protect them in the way above 

 explained, failed, attributing his discomfiture to the climate. He had, it seems, 

 stuck in some loose boughs, which the wind twisted about so that they did more 

 harm than good. But when he came here and saw how easily the whole thing 

 was done, he threw up his arms and scratched his head, in sheer astonishment at 

 its simplicity, and by way of admiration of its efficacy. 



Bicton. James Barnes. 



NOTES ON LILIUM GIGANTEUM AND AURATUM. 



E have all been familiar from our youth up with the Lily, the early 

 mention of which in the Sacred volume has tended to make a deep 

 impression upon our memories, so that the name, like that of the rose, 

 the violet, the pink, and other favourite flowers endeared to us by 

 early associations, seems to convey a meaning which no other term could supply. 

 There are a host of plants which share the name of Lily, such as the Guernsey 

 Lily, the Day Lily, and the sweet Lily of the Valley ; but it is to one or two 

 species of the genus Lilium, the true Lilies, that my present remarks will be con- 

 fined — to Lilium auratum and L. giganteum, undoubtedly the finest and most 

 admired species of the family. They have been grown and flowered in fine 

 condition in plant structures, and the former has also shown itself to be well 

 adapted for window-culture ; but it is with the view of extending their cultiva- 

 tion by introducing them to the open garden, that I offer the following sugges- 

 tions. I have proved L. giganteum to be so perfectly hardy in this northern 

 climate, as to endure our winters without any protection. My first success in 

 flowering it was in 1865 (see Florist and Pomologist, 1866, p. 107). The 

 plant, after flowering, was taken up, and had all its offsets removed, the latter 

 being replanted at once in some warm sheltered situation. I had the satisfaction 

 of seeing one of these small bulbs produce seven flowers upon a. stem about 

 6 ft. in height last June, and four others are throwing up fine strong flower- 

 stems this season. These facts serve to prove that open-air culture may safely 

 be recommended for this noble species of the Lily family. When the spot has 

 been selected for planting, a pit should be dug out, 2 ft. in depth, and about the 

 same in diameter, and filled up with a mixture of one-half of loam, and one-half 

 of equal parts bog-earth and leaf-mould. In planting the bulbs should only be 

 just covered, and if the summer is dry, two or three liberal waterings should be 



