CONVALLARIA, 63 
fume. The woods about Hanover, as well as in other 
parts of Germany, are regularly visited on Whit Monday 
by numerous parties from the cities, who go to gather 
these May-flowers (Maiblumen), and the forest, on that 
day, is a scene of festivity and mirth. From the earliest 
dawn to the closing of the day the roads leading to the 
forests are thronged by persons of all ages, and nearly 
every house is furnished with the Whitsuntide bouquet 
of Lilies of the Valley. An apparently identical species 
is found in our country, on the higher Alleghanies to 
the Southward. 
Although not a bulb, its position, commercially, 
entitles it to the same place in this book that it occupies 
with the florist and seedsman in their business, which 
isan important one. The value of the Lily of the Valley 
pips used for forcing, by the florists, is more than 
double of that of any one kind of bulb. There are a num- 
ber of florists in this country, each of whom force half a 
million pips annually. So systematic has become the 
method of forcing, that the flowers can be obtained 
every week in the year from our leading florists. For 
this purpose a supply is constantly kept in cold storage, 
até a temperature just above freezing point, and brought 
forward in lots of from 5,000 to 50,000, as the market 
demands. The supply is wholly from Germany, and 
there are two varieties, or, rather, trade sorts. One is 
known as Hamburg, the other, Berlin pips, the differ- 
ence between the two being considerable. The Ham- 
burg pips are larger, and later in coming into flower. 
The Berlin pips are much sought because of earliness, 
the size of the pips making no difference in the length 
of the spike, or the number of bells on the same. 
The difference between the two classes arises from 
the conditions of soil and locality only. Hamburg pips 
are grown near Berlin, and Berlin pips near Hamburg. 
From any dealer in either city both varieties can be 
