CHICAGO, MARCH 15. 1896. 



No. 85. 



IN FLOWER AT MOUNTAIN SIDE FARM. MAHWAH. N J, JUNE, 1895 



The Flower Garden. 



LILIES IN fl NEW JERSEY GARDEN. 



Our verj- beautiful illustration of Lilium 

 Browiiii as it appeared last summer in 

 Mrs. Mayer's cottape garden at Moun- 

 tain Side Farm, N. J., should cheer the 

 most despondent of us to increased 

 efforts in growing lilies. We saw these 

 lilies when they were in bloom, and a 

 delightful sight they were, and Mrs. 

 Maj'er was kind enough to have them 

 photographed for Gardening. These lilies 

 are hardy, long-lived, and less susceptible 

 to disease than many kinds, and their 

 flowers are large, deep and showy, and in 

 color white tinged on the outside with 

 purple. Probably there isn't a reader 

 of Gardening who doesn't love lilies, 

 and perhaps not one who cannot 

 grow them just as good as these in 

 the little New Jersey cottage garden, any 

 way we can try. And that 'W« m»y profit 



by her experience Mrs. Mayer has, in the 

 following letter, very kindly given us her 

 method of cultivation. 



Regarding the cultivation of Lilium 

 Brownii, we treat all our lilies in about 

 the same way. We first have a hole dug 

 about 18 inches deep, then put into it a 

 layer of good strong soil without any 

 stimulating material, such as fresh 

 manure or fertiHzer, and preferably made 

 of rotted sod, over this put an inch layer 

 of sand, on which place the lily bulbs and 

 cover them with another layer of sand 

 about half an inch deep. We think that 

 they take root more easily in this way, 

 and that it keeps them fresh and clean 

 and more free froni decay in case they lay 

 dormant one season, as lihes sometimes 

 do, then we fill the rest of the hole with 

 good rich soil composed of well rotted 

 manure, a little sand and peat or leaf 

 mould, as some lilies require peat while 

 Others ore better without it, 0«r soi 

 1 



here is verj' sandy, and with the treat- 

 ment above all the bulbs wehave tried so 

 far seem to do extremely well. 



In one of the borders in my little cottage 

 garden [See frontpagepicture, August 15, 

 1895. -Ed.] the plants oi Lilium superbum 

 have always grown to the height of ten 

 feet, each season. We also grow the 

 western L. pardalinum, which is much 

 dwarfer than superbum but we think it is 

 very handsome 



Then we have fine clumps of L. specio- 

 sum nihrum and album, L. longifforum 

 eximium, L. Hansoni, L. testaceum, L. 

 auratum and L. candidum, and tiger lily 

 in profusion. 



Of the latter we have the common 

 variety as well as splendens, which is a 

 form of the same kind and blooms later 

 and also the double form of the common 

 tiger lily. Last fall we planted L. gigan- 

 teum, L. sulphureum, L. Japonicum Col- 

 chesteri and L. Mariagon album. 



March 6, 189^, ?«{, IVI, 



