GARDEN FLOWERS. 22/ 



Lilac. See Syringa. 



LiLiUM. Lily. [Liliaceae.] Beautiful hardy or half-hardy 

 bulbous-rooted perennials, containing many distinct species, 

 nearly, perhaps quite, all of which are sufficiently hardy to 

 admit of their being cultivated in the open garden. The 

 most beautiful of all is the Liliiim speciosum, and its superb 

 varieties, punctatiim, fvseum, rubriun., and album., some of 

 which are variegated as if rubies were strewn all over their 

 petals. To cultivate these in pots, a compost of one-half 

 turfy peat, one-third turfy loam, and one-third decayed cow- 

 dung, with sand, one-sixth of the whole, added, is suitable. 

 Pot them in February ; use large pots ; and choose very 

 strong double-crowned bulbs, tw^o or three of which may go 

 in a pot a foot in diameter : drain them well, and plant the 

 bulbs three or four inches below the rims j place them in a 

 cold frame, and cover them from frost and heavy rains, but 

 otherwise give all the air possible. When the stems are five or 

 six inches long, fill up the pots with the compost, which will 

 cause them to root up the covered part of their stems. As 

 they rise too high for the frame, remove them to the green- 

 house, w^here they will flower in great perfection, and retain 

 their beauty a long time if shaded from the heat of the sun. 

 Plants are easily raised from seeds sown an inch apart in 

 pans, and placed in heat ; when up, let them be removed to 

 the greenhouse, and be undisturbed two seasons : they may 

 then be placed in three-inch pots, and removed to larger, as 

 they grow, until they flower. They are more generally mul- 

 tiplied by offsets, which form round the old roots, and such 

 plants sooner reach a flowering size. These Japan lilies are, 

 however, sufficiently hardy to be grown in prepared beds in 

 the open air if the beds are covered with some light com- 

 post in wdnter ; and, grown thus, they form fine autumn- 

 blooming subjects. The hardy European and North-Asian 



