September 23, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



426 



Mrs. Sargent's Lily (Lilium Sar- 

 gentiac) 



This fine new lily w die id by in 



Western China in 1903-04, rhen collecting for Messrs. 

 Veitch. Bulbs were sent i England and when the 

 plum lowered it was ed to be Lilium Browni 



var. leucanthum. Cinder the abbreviated name of 

 Liliun r , 1 1 1 ii in ii received a First Class Certifi- 



\ 1 . i- 1 1 from the Ro al Horticultural Society of 

 London on Aug. ~i'K 1905. md bearing this name was 

 subsequently distributed b\ Messrs. Veitch. 



Under this name (I., leucanthum) this same lilj is 

 red to and figured, in Hortk i i m be, Vol. XI. page 

 105, and many times ently in the same paper up 



i" as late as last week ( Vol. \l V, page 39). 



When collecting in China for the Arnold Arboretum 

 I nred a large consignment of this lily (and several 

 others) expressly for Messi I!. & J. Farquhar & Co., 

 Boston, Mass. This firm reci ived them from me as L. 

 leucanthum and, acting in perfect good faith, have ex- 

 hibited, (awarded silver medal Mass. Eort. Sue., Aug. 

 1911), advertised and catalogued the lily under this 

 of L. leucant emum I the latter spelling 

 being an obvious clerical error). 



On m\ return to this country the other day. I had 

 occasion to look into the matter of Chinese lilies and 

 their names. To my great surprise I found th( 

 named above had ni liatever to do with true L. 



Browni var. leucanthum, it being in truth, verv 

 much superior. The diffi muts are numerous and 

 of first importance. To mention one which all 

 cultivators will appreciate, the bulb of our new lily is 

 always 'lark-red purple and pointed at the summit: the 

 bulb of the true L. Browni var. leucanthum is always 

 white, flattened on top and usually with centre de- 

 ed. Again, the flowi rs of our new lily are always 

 tffused with r< or mauve-purple oul 

 Those of the true L. Browni var. leucanthum are < 

 ish-white outside, never colored red or purple. 



One always has great .nice in' interfering with 



an established name but there are times when tins is 

 impossible to avoid and this I i 1 \ is Buch a case. 



\ tudy of all the des necies of lilies 



from China proved conclusively that the lily under dis- 

 cussion is an entdrel} n and ondescribed species. 



on bas been drawn up 

 and under the name of 1. um Sargentiae this will in 

 appear in a proper place. 



It affords me the keei easure to associate this 



noble lily with I Mrs. Chi - Sprague 



'' Holm Lea, Bro ine, M 



ML*-**-^ 



Summer Blooming Lilacs 



In a large JJu "•-' and northwest the' 

 iris t'.-iin 1 1 . - be caught bj late frosts so they can- 

 not bloom. Here ivith us the old-fashii 1 kinds our 



mothers ra II bloom once in about five years. 



There are now ovi 100 ulgaris family, hut most 



of them try to arlj and are caught Emile 



Lei m . E u ;ene liarl and I Jolh are exi options 



as they bloom later. 



The tree lilacs are .1 bloomers. These are well 



known in the east and nave latch been introduced m 

 the west where they are very popular. These are not 

 shrubs but trees We have them on our ground- 4 

 inches through and 15 feet tall and in spring covered 

 with a flood of bloom. 



The Einodi is from the Himalayas, the homi of many 

 of our choice shrubs. I have received three kinds from 

 France under this name, one a slow growing variety, 

 rather tender: another lias a beautiful variegated foliage 

 but is altogether too tender for our climate. The other 

 is the kind so generally grown by our nurserymen 

 times labeled Emodj villosa and is often sent out by 

 our leading nurserymen as genuine villosa. This is 

 entirely wrong. I no resemblance to that won- 

 derful variety. I h ■ sort has immense leaves as large 

 as a lady's hand ami you would not think it could be a 

 lilac until yon n bloom. Though the foliage is 

 dissimilar, yet the flowers in color and form much re- 

 semble those of the Bretschneideri, often known 

 as Emodi rosea. The latter is a marvelous 

 bloomer. They flower about the lirst of June. 

 This year we had one bush 2 feet high which had fifty 

 fine floweiv. A .lump or mass is a wonderful 

 show. The] arc packed and crowded with masses of 

 blooms. They are usually on hand for Decora- 

 tion Day, Which gives them additional value. The 

 villosa is much like the Bretschneideri. It has nar- 

 rower leaves and the blooms are much like the old vul- 

 garis in color. As a bloomer it is equal to the Bretsch- 

 neideri. Taken all around I think it is rated as the 

 finest in the world I have seen bushes 1 feet tall sim- 

 ply overwhelmed b} Buch n il i I tej -eemed 



like single bouquets on Though they 



are from Japan, they seem very hardy. I saw them 

 growing in Manit y are rare and come high — 



sellai" according to size. The trouble 



is to secure the genuine. These, like the snowball, can 

 be propagated by layering. Dig a trench, pull down 

 a branch and covi it about 4 inches deep, leaving the 

 top out and you are sure of a good plant. 



Josiksea or Hungarian lilac also bi i the 



large-'- .nicer blooming family. It does not 



v. or bloom so freely as the other 

 sorts. I have been thus careful in describing 

 varieties becau; i then Buch an addition to our 



ornaments - illy in the west. 



LIB! 

 NEVt 



801 «M(. «l 



Arnold Arboretum, Sept. 19th, lull. 



York, Nebraska. 



(| ^fH+srwtv^ 



