AND THEIE CULTURE. 



87 



for a season. In the autumn 

 of 1876^ some bulbs of Da- 

 vuricum produced secondary 

 sterns^ beariug flowers and 

 buds (blanched and mis- 

 shapen, of course) under- 

 groundj- concerning which, 

 the grower gave me the 

 foIlo^ying particulars : — " I 

 have succeeded in finding a 

 specimen of the Lily this 

 morning; a few -weeks ago 

 I could have found a more 

 perfect ono, having the 

 flowers and leaves more 

 fully developed. Last au- 

 tumn I removed my two- 

 year-old beds of Davuricum, 

 and in the majority of cases 

 I found specimens similar 

 to the one sent ; some^ 

 through the ground being 

 hard and dry, could not at- 

 tain a perpendicular position, 

 but grew round the bulbs, 

 grasping them so tightly 

 that you could not move 

 them without breaking. 

 The beds in question had 

 been planted tw^o years, Anomalous growth in Lilium Davuricum. 



and were fine bulbs to begin with, and they all flowered the first 

 season, and then divided, forming one and tw^o bulbs. The second 

 season they flowered well, and some of the commoner sorts were 

 selected to supply cut flowers. It is to this fact that I attribute this 

 peculiar freak : I observed that after cutting off" the entire head of 

 flowers with some 6 in. of stem, that the remaining portion of the 

 stem soon died, just in proportion to the length of the stem cut. If 

 the head of flowers and an inch or so of the stem only were cut, the 

 remainder lasted mvich longer, and in some cases died oft' naturally, i.e., 

 at the same time as those stems which had not been cut ; I find if the 

 flowers are nipped oft' individually, one may get very fine bulbs, but 

 I believe in all cases where the flowers are ruthlessly cut, we get 

 emaciated bulbs, or, as in this case, start the maiden bulbs into growth 

 prematurely. This second growtli niny have been accelerated by 

 the hot weather followed by showers just about the time the bulbs 

 were dying down. In all cases that came under my observation the 



