i88i.] FORCING LILY OF THE VALLEY. 441 



even start when placed in heat as soon as they arrive, but remain dor- 

 mant for months before flowering. It is very well to recommend a 

 bottom-heat of 100° to start them, but in spite of such unnatural 

 driving they will not start until they have rested. Home-grown 

 plants, if ripened early, will not need such a high temperature 

 by 20°, and will quickly spring into flower. Last year my plants 

 forced with greater ease than during any previous year, and with less 

 heat, and this through being earlier ripened than in previous years. If 

 it is difficult to give the plants a steady and regular bottom-heat by 

 means of hot-water pipes, a bed should be made of leaves and litter, 

 and the plants plunged into it when the rank steam has subsided. 

 Regularity in maintaining a certain degree of bottom-heat is a decided 

 advantage ; and a more uniform temperature can be kept with hot-water 

 pipes than with the other system, and the risk considerably less. 

 When fermenting material is used, some care is necessary in case the 

 bed gets too hot, and the crowns are injured in consequence. Under 

 whatever system bottom-heat is obtained, the plants should, if con- 

 venient, be plunged in old tan or cocoa-nut fibre, and the crowns 

 buried an inch or two beneath the plunging material. They force 

 better and commence growing earlier when the crowns are excluded 

 from light. Why this should be the case, I cannot tell, for, when grow- 

 ing outside, the crowns generally are nestling on the surface. When 

 the flower -sprays appear through the material in which they are 

 plunged, a flower-pot should be turned over them, with the hole in the 

 bottom stopped for a time at first. This assists materially in drawing 

 them well up. When forced in a close frame this assistance is not 

 necessary. 



LILIUM LONGIFLORUM. 



This Lily can be purchased very cheap as compared with the 

 price of a great many others, and yet it is not cultivated in private 

 gardens half so much as it ought to be. However beautiful many 

 other Liliums may be, none are easier to cultivate, and few that can 

 surpass this one for purity and usefulness. Considering all its quali- 

 ties, it is a Lily that should be grown in every garden, and those 

 who have never grown Liliums will not fail in cultivating this one. 

 I have never had a bulb yet that failed to produce from three to 

 five of its large trumpet-shaped flowers, which are pure white and 

 highly fragrant. If placed in a pot it will do well either in heat or in 

 a cold frame, or planted in the borders outside. For the latter purpose 

 it is a grand plant, but is of the greatest service when cultivated in 

 pots. One great feature in this Lily is its dwarf habit. It does not 

 exceed 18 inches in height, unless drawn up in strong heat, and a great 

 distance from the glass, and even then it is not inclined to grow much 

 taller. When under cool treatment it seldom attains that height. It 

 can be grown in 4-inch pots, which are suflaciently large to develop 

 its highest qualities. For room decoration it is useful, and for cutting 



