AND THEIR CULTURE. 29 



" For Hansoni, Mr. Baker's description in monograph will answer 

 with these alterations : Bulb pyriform, and, I am sure, annual ; leaves of 

 L. Martagon, nsuaWy three 10 — lo leaved verticils, with a few scattering 

 ones chiefly above them 8 — 18 lines wide, colour scarcely as dark as 

 orange. The description of Avenaceum is badly mixed up. This is my 

 plant — Bulbus parvus, ovoideus perennis, squamis pluribus lineariis, 

 medio constrictis. Caulis glaber teres 1^ — 2 pedalis, foliis sa^pissime- 

 3 — G in verticillum unicum ad medium caulis aggregatis, reliquis sparsis, 

 lanceolatis 2 — 3 poll longis glabris 5 — 7 nervatis. Flores 1 — 3 

 bracteis ovato-lanceolatis, pedicellis apici cernuis 1^ — 2 poll longis, 

 Perianthium leviter odorum, segmentis splendide cocoinnis, concoloribus, 

 oblanceolatis 15 — 18 lin longis, 3 — 4 lin latis valde revolutis, filamenta 

 y — 12 lin longa, anthurls 3 — 4 lin longis. Ovarium 4 — 5 lin longum, 

 stylo declinato 12 lin longo. L. CanaOense grows in low meadows near 

 brooklets, the bulbs two or three inches under the soil in low banks safe 

 above the overflow of winter and spring. L. Superlian chooses similar 

 situations in the States further south. L. PhiladeJiihicum only grows in 

 dry soil, as in rocky hills or sandy plains in the partial shade of .species 

 of Pinus and Quercus. L. Cateshei is found in low pine barrens, in the- 

 States, south of Virginia. L. IVasldiirjtonianum, my correspondent tells 

 me, grows six inches deep in well drained soil high up on the north side 

 of the mountains of California. L. HumtolOtii chooses the vicinity of 

 streams in mountain meadows, growing among shrubs and grass, and 

 L. Pardalinum in similar situations. I succeed well with all these in my 

 garden by giving some a dry situation, others a cool or slightly moist one. 

 In America we have lost so many of our important bulbs of Auratum the 

 first or second year, from their shedding their leaves and decaying 

 throughout in midsummer, that the practise has prevailed of planting in 

 dry soil, as though it was wet that rots the bulb. Auratum will endure- 

 better in dry soil than will Speciosum. As I have read of the surprising 

 growth of the former species in peaty and moist soils reported in English 

 horticultural journals, I have thought a good deal on this matter, and 

 have proposed giving some Auratum this treatment. I have a bed of 

 them in strong clay loam, rather heavy and moist, such soil as I give ta 

 Speciosum, and they thi-ive as well as those anywhere else. I have been 

 convinced that the loss of Auratums should rather be attributed to the 

 extreme heat of our climate than to wet; in a heated soil the decav 

 among the scales which must perish each year, seems to be communicated 

 to those scales which should remain sound, and to the whole plant. So 

 I have come to cover all my Lily beds with a large layer of leaves from 

 the woods ; I put this on in the fall to exclude the severe frosts of our 

 winter (the soil is usually frozen to the depth of two or three feet), 

 and assisting the young shoots to come through it. I let it remain 

 through the summer to keep the soil in a cool and humid state ; of course 

 with this treatment I join the most thorough drainage. I have been 

 wont to shade partially by means of lath screens above or on the south 

 side of the plants, and 1 still think this advisable for rare and choice 

 species, because the intense heat of the sun in this country is very trying 

 to the foliage of Lilies, but in ordinary cultivation the shading of the soil 



