April 11, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



35T 



LILIUM AURATUM AND ITS CULTURE. 



there is, perhaps, no flower 

 at the present time more 

 sought after than tliis queen 

 of Lilies, Lilium auratum, I 

 have thought that a few facts 

 connected with it miglit in- 

 terest those who are possessors of the bulbs, eitlier as just 

 imported from Japan, or else grown in the previous season 

 by some nursei^man. 



The history of the bulb affords a remarkable instance of 

 commercial enterprise and the advantages of rapid commu- 

 nication wliich so characterise tins age. It is now only a 

 very few years ago — in 1S63, that I was at Bagshot, at 

 Mr. Standish's niu-sery, when the treasures that Mr. For- 

 tune had collected in Japan were received there. There 

 were shrubs, trees, herbaceous plants, and amongst them 

 some bulbs of a Lily, wliich Mr. Fortune had described as 

 twice as large as lancifolimn, wondi-ously fragrant, and 

 most gorgeous in its appearance. In the follo\ving July I 

 was just entering the Royal Horticultural Society's garden, 

 when I met some of our great growers coming out. " Is 

 there anytliing remarkable ? " was my question. " Yes. 

 Mr. Veitch has there the grandest Lily that has ever been 

 seen," And there, sure enough, diffusing its fragrance 

 around, the admii'ed of all admirers, the cynosure of all 

 eyes, was Lilium aiuatum. It was shortly afterwards ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Standisli at the Crystal I'alace, figured in 

 botanical and floral books, and, in fact, became quite the rag.;. 

 But then came the question. Who was to have it '.' Bulbs 

 of it had been sold at fifteen guineas ; and for years, we 

 were told, the part of the multitude was to be that of the 

 boys outside the eating shops — a look and a smell, but no 

 taste. However, of course eveiybody who had any corre- 

 spondent, or chance of a correspondent, in .Japan, imme- 

 diately \^Tote out to liim, senduig figures of the Lily, and 

 requesting as many as possible to be sent home. By-and- 

 by announcements of the arrival of the bulbs were made : 

 but either the roguery or the bhmdering of the .Japanese 

 caused endless confusion. Heaps of other Lilies, which 

 were not worth their weight in earth, were sent. One firm 

 had 1.500, not one of wliich came true ; another :iOOO, in 

 which the auratums wei'e few and far between. After a 

 wliile, however, tlungs began to right themselves, and Mr. 

 Stevens was able to announce, not merely supposed bulbs 

 of Lilium auratum, but guaranteed ones ; and now the 

 bulb, which a few years ago could only be piuxhased for 

 fifteen guineas, can be had for half-a-crown. Other facts 

 have come to light since then. One is that there are many 

 varieties of it, fi-om pure white to those with a red stripe 

 down the centre of each petal instead of the golden one 

 from which Lilium auratum derives its name. ^Vaother 

 was, that it was a gi'cat mistake to have described it, as was 

 Ho. 815.— Vol. XII., New Seeies. 



done, as one-flowered, inasmuch as bulbs with ten, twenty, 



and even forty flowers have been grown, thus increasing 

 its attractiveness and value. An announcement has been 

 made that upwards of :io.oOO bulbs of it have been sold 

 during the last two months at Stevens's auction-rooms, f?o 

 that now the million may become possessors of this most 

 lovely flower. 



And now as to its cultivation. Tlierc have been many 

 opinions expressed as to the most suitable soil for it, some 

 advocating loam and peat ; others loam, peat, and leaf 

 mould ; and others simply peat ; while it is e\ddent from, 

 some of the bulbs which have been im]iorted that they 

 have been grown, either naturallj- or artilicially, in some 

 strong clayej' loam. Mr. Charles Turner, of Slough, who 

 has been a most successful grower and exhibitor of it, uses 

 peat and sand only ; and in my small way I have followed 

 his advice. But, as in everything else, there is a way how 

 not to do it as well as to do it, and that way, I am sorry 

 to say, I arrived at last year : let my experience, then, bo 

 a warning to others. The first mistake I made was in 

 overpotting. Over-anxious, perhaps, to increase the size 

 of my bulbs, I gave them far more room than thej' requu-ed. 

 Tliis would, probably, have been of but little importance 

 had I not committed another mistake — viz., that of leaving 

 the pots out exposed to the very heavy rains we had in 

 August and September of last year. This so completely 

 saturated the soil, that I am sorry to say I lost liaU' of the 

 few bulbs I had, and have learned a lesson which I hope 

 others may profit by as well as myself. I do not think 

 they ought to be put out of the cool greenhouse or pit, bnt 

 treated as a greenhouse plant. It may be said. You place 

 greenhouse plants out of doors. Yes, but it is when they 

 are making their growth ; whereas I pat the Lilies out 

 when they ought to have been going to rest, after their 

 flowering was over. 



Another fact that I have ascertained mth regard to this 

 LUy is, that when the seed is sown you need not be in the 

 least discouraged if it do not come up the first year, or 

 imagine that therefore a year is lost. Two years ago I 

 sowed a pod of fine seed. It was sown in a pan, and 

 placed in a p-opagating-house belonging to a neighbour. 

 All last season there was not a sign of a plant coming up, 

 yet when the seed was examined it was plump and fresh ; 

 and towards autumn I could see that very tiny bulbs were 

 being formed undergi-ound. and there tliis spring they have 

 come up as plentifully as Blackberries. 



One remark more as to the newly imported bulbs. These 

 come home, many of them at least, overland, and are 

 plump and sound. Whether they are so, however, or more 

 dried, the best plan is, I think, to pot them in small pots; 

 and where there is convenience for so doing, to plunge them 

 in the tan or sand of a propagating-house, giving them 

 but little water, and encouraging them to throw out roots. 

 When once they have done this all danger to the bulb is. 

 I think, passed ; and as soon as they have pushed out 

 their roots vigorously tliey should be repotted in somewhat 

 larger pots. What with importation, seedlings, and di- 

 vision of the roots, it cannot but be that ere long this noble 

 flower will be as common as the lovely and still favourite 

 I Lilium lancifolium. — ^D , Deal. 



Ko. 967.— Vol, XXSVU., Olb Sebibs. 



