AND THEIR CULTURE. 21 



L. WalUchianum.'^^'' The bulb, a small one, was placed in a deep narrow 

 pot used for Gladioli, the soil consisting- of sandy turf, broken up, and 

 mixed with a little coarse leaf-mould and bits of broken stone. It started 

 into growth late in June, and when the foliage began to expand, was syringed 

 overhead every day ; it bloomed in a common orchard house. I suppose 

 the treatment suited it, as the bulb has increased considerably in size, and 

 thrown up two strong stems this year." — Hev. A, Eawson, Garden, 

 vol. 10, iJ. 480. 



From Yokohama^ Japan, Mr, Kramer writes to us in 1869 : — 



" All Lilies, except Auratum, are cultivated in the gardens here, and 

 must necessarily be dearer than a Lily found in the woods. Auratum is 

 found in all the woods about this neighbourhood, but owing to large 

 quantities having been shipped from here for several years, large bulbs 

 are onl}- to be found in more distant places, which makes the carriage 

 more expensive, and in wet weather they are liable to rot if kept packed 

 for four or five days. I have never known Auratum to rot in a garden 

 here, nor have the native gardeners ; they leave them in the ground all 

 the year round, and give them a top-dressing of nightsoil during the 

 winter. Their treatment of other bulbs more valuable to them shows 

 that they have suffered from disease. Their practice is as follows : — In 

 autumn, soon after the stalk has withered, the bulb is taken out of the 

 ground or pot, and all the old roots are removed. It is then exposed to 

 the air about 10 to 15 days, but not in the sun, and replanted sideways, in 

 order that the water may not lodge between the scales, which might be 

 the case if the bulb were planted upright. 



" The ground in which they grow the Lilies is generally black, 4 or 5 

 feet deep, very light and siliceous. I must, however, remark that I have 

 never seen such fine Lilies here, as I have at home, and the native 

 gardeners shake their heads in doubt, when I tell them that Auratum has 

 had more than 100 flowers from one bulb. 



^'' Mxibro-vitiatuTii is scarcely to be had, and I believe, at the present time, 

 there are more in Europe than here. They have been exported by every 

 one that fancied flowers, and especially by the Italian silkworm eg^ 

 merchants, ^ c/raiiieurs.' They have also been sent to New York. Vlrrjinale 

 is almost as scarce a variety o{ Aui'atum as Rahro-vittatum." 



In 1871 he writes : — 



" The rain of last summer destroyed many bulbs, and the price has 

 risen in consequence. L. Auratum, large bulbs, are getting very scarce 

 here, and transporting them from a distance spoils about 25 per cent, of 

 them. Lilies form no speciality here. In order to obtain them I have to 

 go through more than 300 gardens, picking up six here, ten in another 

 place, and rarely meeting with fifty bulbs of the same kind." 



LILIUM AURATUM AT HOME, 



" L. Auratum is found in great abundance on the steep partiallj'-wooded 



hill sides that form the flanks of the well-known volcanic mountain, Fusi- 



Yama (Japan), and in smaller quantities throughout the district generally. 



The soil that covers, to a varying depth, the crumbling igneous rocks. 



