14G THE GARDENER. [April 



In the 'Garden' of February 12th of the current year there is a 

 lovely plate of a lovely Indian Lily — L. j^olyphylluni. It is moderately 

 hardy on warm weU-drained soils, but it is more safe to grow it in 

 pots. You can get a dozen strong-tiowering bulbs of it for £50, or 

 perhaps for a little less. It is a little expensive, perhaps, but it is a 

 pretty thing — very nearly a hardy flower, in fact, so of course it is valu- 

 able. Bedding-plants are vulgar. Orchids are dear. " Consider the 

 Lilies," my friend : 



CYPPwIPEDIUM MAULEI. 



This is one of the most welcome of all the kinds known, and in 

 growth and flower is quite distinct from C. insigne, of which it is un- 

 doubtedly one of the very best forms. The leaves are straight and 

 shapely, and the flower has a more finished appearance, the upper 

 sepal being nearly all white, blotched with lilac purple. Of the four 

 or five varieties of Cypripedium insigne which I have, this is by far 

 the most welcome and efi'ective, and a flower of it which has been 

 fully expanded for six weeks is still quite fresh. 



A friend who was fortunate in obtaining a good importation of Or- 

 chids from Assam sent me a batch of them, and amongst the number 

 which have bloomed is a variety I never saw before. In growth it re- 

 sembles Maulei, but it is more robust : there is a good deal of pure 

 white on the top sepal, and the spots or blotches are nearly black, as in 

 C. BoxallL I am very pleased with it, as a most interesting variety 

 of the free-blooming and useful winter-blooming C. insigne. 



HAEDY FLO WEES. 



I am glad to see these shooting up out of the ground in the beds 

 nd borders everywhere. Bulbs are especially robust, as indeed is the 

 rule after a sharp winter with much snow. The new seedling kinds of 

 Xarcissus sent me by Mr Peter Barr are spearing upwards rapidly after 

 the rain. This is their second season here, and so we anticipate a 

 great show of them. The large-flowered X. Emperor and Empress, 

 planted last season in a 4-feet-deep border of loam and leaf-mould, have 

 both pushed up leaves like those of Amaryllis in size ; and the great 

 golden-chaliced X. maximus is also very robust, and is already show- 

 ing its buds. When fully developed, this kind under good culture at- 

 tains a height of from 2 to 3 feet, each individual flower being nearly 

 t) inches across. For contrast with these we have the tiny little N. 

 minor, of which " wee mite " old Parkinson speaks lovingly in his 

 ' Paradisus ' of nearly two centuries and a half ago. 



Hellebores of sorts are the most showy of the present hardy or 

 open-air flowers. Snowdrops and Crocuses are enlivening nooks and 

 comers or walk -margins, and the Winter Aconite opens its golden 

 bosses to the sun. These are the vedettes of a glorious host which 

 the golden trumpets of the Daffodils will usher in. Golden Jasmine 

 and Chimonanthus still "hang their banners on the outer walls," and 



