104 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ Febraary 10, 1876. 



undisturbed by anyone (however dear s/ic may be) till yon 

 place them in yonr carriage for conveyance to the train, feat 

 before yon remove the boxes from the cellar you will have to 

 run round your nursery and cut every likely young Rose for 

 your spare box. It is of the greatest importance that these 

 should be very young, for you never know what sort of a night 

 you may have, and a journey always opens blooms quicker 

 than anything else. There are also many blooms which open 

 more quickly than others, and have to be cut very young 

 indeed. 



I think I have shown my hand snffioiently for one letter. 

 If, however, my dear old friends the head Rose nurserymen 

 would only add to their descriptions of the Roses in the cata- 

 logues such words as " A good traveller ; " " must be cnt very 

 young ; " " loses colour on the road," &a., they would confer a 

 boon on hundreds of exhibitors. Bat this is one of the things 

 that nothing but experience — experience gained, too, by re- 

 peated sad failures — will teach, and we must all gain it iu the 

 same way. There is no Rose here on earth without a thorn, 

 and the Rose exhibitor cannot attain to that envied position of 

 first-prize holder at the Crystal Palace without hard work, 

 frequent disappointments, many heartburnings, and incessant 

 loving care, feut who will grudge all this in the cause of the 

 Rose ? What worshipper at the shrine of Flora's choicest gift 

 will hesitate to offer that which costs him most of all — his in- 

 cessant labour, his constant love? and if even once she answers 

 hia prayer and rewards his constancy by placing him first at 

 her ii-te in the Palace of crystal he will be more than amply 

 repaid for all his toil and care and love ; and as he pledges her 

 in the wine that bears her name and drains a bumper of 

 Ch.iteauLa Rose in honour o! his victory, there will be but 

 one thought dominant in hia heart, and that will be the hope 

 that each year will make the Rose more honoured and loved. 

 Vivat Rosa regina florum, — John B. M. Camm, Hlonkton Wyld. 



LILY CULTURE AND LIST OF SPECIES 

 AND VARIETIES. 



Since the advent of Lilium auratum in 18C0 there has been 

 quite a rage for Lilies, and many new species and distinct 

 varieties have been introduced subsequently from Japan, Cali- 

 fornia, the Philippine Islands, d-j. All of them may be culti- 

 vated in pots, and nearly the whole of them in the open ground 

 in England. When the bulbs are planted out of doors they 

 should be in a position where the plants will not be exposed 

 to the fury of south-west gales. Not only the flowers but the 

 leaves also are much injured by wind. 



The culture in pots is very simple, and may be briefly 

 described. When the flower-stalks become yellow it is a sign 

 that they may be cut down near the surface of the ground, 

 and as soon as convenient after this the roots may be repotted. 

 There is some difference of opinion amongst Lily growers as to 

 the best way this is to be done. Some hold that it is injarious 

 to the bulbs to shake them out of the soil and separate them, 

 and would repot year after year, increasing annually the size 

 of the pots. If the roots are potted before they start into 

 growth I believe it is the beat practice to shake out all the old 

 soil, and saving as many as possible of the fibrous roots at the 

 base of the bulb. There will also be a larger proportion of 

 fibrous roots at the base of the old stalks, and these will have 

 grown all round the bnlb. The best way is to twist this stalk 

 with all the roots out from the bulb. 



I have tried to grow them in various composts and they do 

 well in loam, leaf mould, and decayed manure. They do 

 equally well in a compost of turfy loam and turfy peat in equal 

 proportions, the leaf mould to be omitted, but adding the same 

 proportion of manure and sand ; one-fifth part of the compost 

 ought to be well-decayed manure. I have always found that 

 the roots are in better health when peat has been used in the 

 compost. Good peat cinnot be obtained in all districts, but 

 when it can I advise its use ; but it is as well to state that very 

 fine Lilies can be grown without peat in the soil. 



I believe in careiuUy draining all pots intended to grow 

 plants during a whole season. The crocks should be placed in 

 carefully, one large piece over the hole, a few similar bits of 

 crock should be placed over it, and some smaller drainage over 

 all ; the finer partion of the compost must be prevented from 

 mixing with this by placing fibrous turf over the crocks. In 

 potting press the mould in firmly by the hand, but not hard. 

 The pots used may be of various sizes, one bullj in the centre 

 of a 5 or C-inch pot, or a dozen or a score of roots may be 



potted in a 13 or 15-inch. I have also potted three or four 

 roots in a 9-inch pot ; the top of the bulb should be an inch 

 or more below the surface. After potting plunge the pots out 

 of doors in some light material — I find cocoa-nut fibre refase 

 very useful for this purpose ; the surface of the pots should 

 be at least 6 inches covered. Early in Febraary they must be 

 taken out of the plunging material and be put into a cold 

 frame. By this time plenty of new roots will have formed, 

 and some of the early sorts be throwing up the flower-stems. 

 Abundant ventilation is necessary, and in fine weather the 

 lights may be removed. When all danger of frost is over the 

 plants may be removed to a sheltered position out of doors, 

 or they may be kept through the season under glass ; if the 

 latter, the plants should be close to the glass, the house to be 

 well ventilated, and the ventilators open night as well as day. 

 I have had L. auratum and L. Humboldtii run up to S or 

 10 feet under such circumstances, and be well furnished with 

 leaves from the base. The flower-stems require to be sup- 

 ported by sticks, and when in flower they must be shaded 

 from the sun. 



As to sorts, L. auratum must stand at the top of the list. 

 Amongst the importations from Japan are many inferior 

 varieties, but the best selections are truly noble flowers. 

 L. Krameri and L. Krameri album are very much like auratum 

 in style of growth and formation of flower; the petals of the 

 former are suffused with pink. L. Leichtlinii is a very beauti- 

 ful flower of slender growth ; the petals gracefully recurve. 

 They are clear yellow, spotted with brownish purple. There 

 is also a major form which is scarce. 



L. speciosum, of which there are at least six distinct and 

 very beautiful varieties, is, perhaps, the most useful of all for 

 pot culture. L. Humboldtii is a very showy species, the 

 flowers are orange yellow densely spotted with brown ; the 

 petals are recurved, and the whole flower resembles L. tigri- 

 num splendens. L. californicum and L. pardalinum are nearly 

 allied species. L.longiflorum with its elegant trumpet-shaped, 

 clear white flowers, should be in the most select collection. 

 L. Washingtonianum is a handsome species, but it is not such 

 a fine flower in cultivation as it was expected to be from the 

 glowing accounts received with it. L. umbellatum and its 

 varieties L. Thunbergianum and numerous forms thereof are 

 aU worthy of culture. L. giganteum is a grand species and 

 likes a shady sheltered position in which to develope its mag- 

 nificent spike of flowers. L. tigrinum splendens is the best of 

 the Tiger Lilies. L. tigrinum fl.-pl. is also a very fine variety. 

 L. tenuifolium is a gem, the stem is a foot high furnished 

 with narrow leaves, and the flowers are orange scarlet, the 

 petals elegantly recurve!. L. parvum is also a small dwarf 

 species worthy of culture. — J. Douglas. 



THE ARRANGEMENTS OF COLOURS 



IS THE BEDS OF THE LONDON PARKS AND GARDENS.— No. 5. 



Colour gives to the world beauty and ornament; it aids us 

 in determining distance and space, and enables the eye mora 

 readily to separate objects. AU colours are contained, in light, 

 in a state of combination, and are found to resolve themselves 

 into three primary colours — viz., red, yellow, and blue, and 

 three compound or intermediate colours, each formed by the 

 union of two primitive colours. These compound colours are 

 purple, green, or orange. Mixtures of these secondary colours 

 produce the tertiary colours, which are softer and less definite. 

 Black and white may for all practical purposes, whether in 

 painting, floriculture, or landscape gardening, be considered 

 as colours. Painters describe colours as being warm colours or 

 cold colours, orange and red and those hues and tints being 

 warm, blue and green being cold colours. Yellow is of all 

 colours the most allied to light, while its complementary purple 

 is the darkest of hues; they contrast, therefore, as to light 

 and dark — that is, in reference to light alone. Red is the 

 most exciting and positive of all colours, its complementary 

 green the most soothing and grateful to the eye. Red and 

 green are non-contrasting as to light and dark, but they are 

 contrasting as to their powers of exciting the eye and as to 

 the power of colouring. 



Blue is the coldest and most retiring of all colours, its com- 

 plementary orange the warmest and most advancing. The 

 contrast is, therefore, both as to advancing and retiring, and 

 as to hot and cold. Thus it will be seen that the orange is 

 complementary to blue, and blue to orange ; purple is a com- 

 plementary to yellow, and yellow to purple ; green is a com- 



