178 BULBS AND TUBEROUS-ROOTED PLANTS. 
sop told the gardener of his master, Xanthus, 
that ‘‘The earth is stepmother to those plants which 
were incorporated into her soil, but a mother to those 
which are her own free production.” This may suggest 
the reason why our own species are capable of with- 
standing the severity of our winters, while those from 
foreign countries are not. 
Whatever may be the cause of failure, we find, e 
our own experience and observation, that where Lilies 
are protected so that frost cannot reach them, they will 
invariably succeed, and thrive in proportion as the other 
conditions of growth are more or less favorable; while 
those left unprotected, if in an exposed situation, are 
quite as sure to die. 
Let us state a single instance, in corroboration of 
the facts as stated. A friend and neighbor had a pecu- 
liar fondness for bulbs, Lilies in particular. Of these 
his choice was the ZL. speciosum (lancifolium). He 
planted, in early spring, in a bed four feet in diameter, 
a dozen bulbs of the different varieties. They grew 
moderately well, as they should in good soil, his being 
kept covered with grass cut from the lawn. Soon after 
the first frost he covered the bed, to the depth of six 
inches, with coarse manure, extending over the grass to 
double the size of the bed. The following seasons there 
was an enormous growth ; some of the plants were neariy 
six feet high, their stems being an inch or more in diam- 
eter at the base, bearing from twenty to thirty flowers 
each, of a size and substance rarely seen. This bed was 
allowed to remain undisturbed for several years, the - 
plants keeping up their vigor of growth, and increasing 
with the most wonderful rapidity ; in fact, when they 
were removed the ground seemed all bulbs. 
The mulching, or the protecting of a bed of Lilies, 
is a simple and inexpensive matter. The best and most 
natural mulching we have ever used is a covering, say 
