66 



CULTIVATION OF THE LILY TRIBE. 



nutriment for themselves. It should, how- 

 ever, be remarked, that if the winter 

 pruning and the spring disbudding have 

 been properly done, no summer pruning 

 whatever will be necessar}', 



" But," says some person accustomed to 

 cutting ofT half a cart-load of foliage from 

 his hardy vines every July, *' what am I to 

 do with the mass of foliage, running into a 

 wild wilderness, that I find upon my vines 

 every midsummer. It would smother the 

 grapes." 



We answer, provide against it by pruning 

 back the side spurs or shoots, close to the 

 leading canes, every winter. And in the 

 spring, when several buds start out from 

 the same place to make the current season''s 

 wood, rub off all but tivo. In this way you 

 will prevent the vine from producing too 

 much wood, or more fruit than it can pro- 

 perly carry ; and you will also allow the 

 shoots that form the current year's growth, 

 to produce and retain all the foliage which 

 it is possible for them to do, in order that 

 the grapes which they bear may have the 

 utmost supply of nutriment. 



We cannot better conclude these remarks 

 than by the following paragraph from Dr. 

 Lindley's article. It relates to autumn 



pruning, and is as much to the point here 

 as in England : 



"When, however, the branches have 

 grown for many weeks, and are in the au- 

 tumn beginning to slacken in their power 

 of lengthening, theory says it is then right 

 to stop the shoots by pinching off their ends, 

 because after that season newly formed 

 leaves have little time to do more than or- 

 ganize themselves, which must take place 

 at the expense of matter forming in the 

 other leaves. Autumn-stopping of the vine 

 shoots is therefore not only unobjectionable, 

 but advantageous ; for the leaves which re- 

 main after that operation will then direct all 

 their energy to the perfection of the grapes." 



We have elsewhere stated, that we con- 

 sider the simple upright trellis in every 

 respect preferable to the arbor, for training 

 hardy grapes. Too much sun we have 

 never known, even in our hottest seasons, 

 for the grape ; and the leaves are so much 

 more perfectly exposed to the sun on the 

 trellis, where it can reach them on both 

 sides, than upon the arbor where it can 

 only touch upon one side, that the crop of 

 grapes in the former case is always, other 

 circumstances being equal, incomparably 

 larger and finer. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE LILY TRIBE. 



BY JOSEPH BRECK OF BOSTON. 



As the proper time for transplanting the 

 Lily family is near at hand, it may not be 

 out of season to offer a few remarks in re- 

 lation to the various species and their cul- 

 tivation. 



All the species of this splendid genus with 

 which w-e are acquainted, may be consid- 

 ered worthy of a place in every good col- 

 lection of plants. 



Some of the species are well known, while 

 others are rarely seen in our gardens. 



The Lily is interesting to the young stu- 

 dent in botany as well as to the florist, on 

 account of the simplicity of its structure, 

 and the magnitude and distinct character 

 of its different parts and organs. In the 

 Linnsean system it is found in class Hex- 

 andria, order MonogjTiia. It is the type 



