842 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



6309 Propagation. The common method is by offsets ; but they may be raised from seed, which 

 ripens'readily, and is to be treated in all respects like that of the tulip, the seedlings of the crown-impe- 

 rial flowering in the fifth or sixth year, and those of the two other species in the third or fourth year. 



fttlO Culture of flowering bulbs. They delight in a light soil, not too wet nor very full of dung. It 

 should be due deep, and the bulbs may be planted six inches deep, and from eighteen inches to two feet 

 distant every way ; but they have the best effect in a mingled flower-border. They need not be taken 

 up above once in three years, when the stems are withered in May or June, and they should not be kept 

 longer out of the ground than two months. 



Subsect. 9. Lily. — Lilium, L. Hexand. Monogyn. L. and LUus, J. Lis, Fr. ; 



Lilie, Ger. ; and Giglio, Ital. 

 6311. Of the lily there are sixteen species introduced in Britain, and the whole of 

 them may be reckoned very choice flowers. We shall notice particularly, only those 

 species, of which numerous varieties have been produced. These are : — 



The white lily (L. Candidum) (Bot. Map. I the stem produces small green bulbs m 



the axillae of the leaves. Of this spe- 

 cies, there are eight or ten varieties and 

 subvarieties. 

 The martagon, or Turk's cap, (L. Mar- 

 tagon) {Hot. Ma<;. 893.), has a large 

 scaly bulb, a stalk furnished with nar- 

 row leaves, near three feet high and 

 terminating peduncles of fine carmine 

 flowers in July. Of this species there 

 are half a dozen varieties, besides the 



scarlet martagon (L. C/ialcedomcnm), 

 of which there are also different sorts. 

 Besides the above species and their va- 

 rieties, there are the L. Canadense, 

 sitperbum, or Turk's cap ; the Pompo- 

 nium, and Tigrimim, or tiger lily ; the 

 Japonicum,OT Japan lily, with stems of 

 5 feet, and the flowers 7 inches broad, 

 pure white with a streak of blue ; all 

 equally meriting cultivation as select 

 flowers. 



278.) has a large scaly bulb, a leafy 

 stem, from three to four feet in height, 

 terminatingin large pure white flowers 

 on peduncles. It is a native of the 

 Levant, and was in most gardens in 

 Gerrard's time. Of this species there 

 are above eight varieties. 

 The orange lily (L. biilbifemm) (Bot. 

 JU<itf.36.)has a scaly bulb, a leafy stem, 

 two feet and a half high, terminating 

 in orange-colored flowers. Sometimes 



6312. Propagation. This is almost always by offset-bulbs ; but new varieties may be 

 raised from seed, which ripens in most sorts in August : being treated as directed for 

 raising new varieties of the narcissus, the young bulbs will flower the fourth and fifth 

 years. 



6313 Culture of flowering bulbs. The more common sorts, species, and varieties, will thrive in any 

 soil and situation even under the shade of trees. The Canadian, Pomponian, and Philadelphian mar- 

 tasrons are somewhat tender, and require the protection of ashes or rotten bark in winter. They are ge- 

 nerallv planted in borders, and need not be taken up oftener than every three or four years in September, 

 and replanted six inches deep in the October following. None of the species can be safely transplanted, 

 after they have pushed leaves, without weakening them so as to prevent their flowering for several years. 

 This remark indeed, will apply to most bulbous- rooted plants. Griffin, of South Lambeth, whose supe- 

 rior skill in the cultivation of bulbous plants is well known {Hort. Trans, iv. 544.), has been in the prac- 

 tice of keeping the lilium japonicum in pots, protected by a green-house or garden-frame ; but he thinks 

 thev thrive best in the former. He places the bulb in twenty-four-sized pots, not lower than an inch from 

 the surface of the mould, which is composed of about two thirds peat and one third loam, the bottom of 

 the pot being covered to the depth of two inches, with broken pieces of tile and the rough sittings of peat. 

 The plants are kept entirely from frost, and are watered very little when in a dormant state, for they are 

 then very impatient of wet in excess. The pots kept in the green-house are placed at a distance from the 

 flue to prevent the mould drying quickly. (Hort. Trans, iv. 554.) Brooks grows in a brick-pit, which 

 he can cover with mats or glasses at pleasure ; but he says, it " appears to be sufficiently hardy to en- 

 dure our winters, as I have had a bed of them two years in the open ground without protection. 

 (Hort. Trans, iv. 552.) 



Subsect. 10. AmaryllidecB. — Amaryllis, L. Hex. Monog. L. and AmaryllidecB, B. P. 

 Lis-narcisse, Fr. ; Narcissenlilie, Ger. ; and Giglio Narcisso, Ital. 



6314. The amaryllidecs is a splendid family, lately subdivided into those of Ncrine, 

 Coburgia, and Brunsvigia (see Bot. Mag.), of which almost every species may be consi- 

 dered & a select flower. The A. amabilis, Josephina, and Vittata, are reckoned the most 

 splendid bulbous-rooted plants; and the A. for mosissima, or Jacobea lily ; Sarniensis, or 

 Guernsey lily; Belladonna, &c. are less magnificent, but of very great beauty. Most of 

 the species are green-house or stove plants, and natives of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 China, or South America. Various hybrids of this family have been produced by Her- 

 bert, Sweet, Gower, and others. {Hort. Trans, iv. 488. &c.) 



G315 Propagation and culture. New sorts, as in similar cases, are procured by seed ; but the most usual 

 mode as few of these plants have ripened their seeds in this country, is by offsets from the flowering 

 blilbs removed yearly, or every time the bulbs are taken out of the ground. The great art in cultivating 

 these' and ail other bulbs, is to procure vigorous leaves, as on these depend the quantity of nutritive 

 matter prepared and d epos ted in the bulb, and consequently its ability to flower the following season The 

 SreulnstaS of several of these plants, as the Guernsey lily, flowering in the autumn, and producing 

 their leaves afterwards under the disadvantages of a winter's sun, is the reason why the y 1 have beer 'hitherto 

 cultivated with so little success in this country, and why we are obliged to import the bulbs annual^ 

 from other countries. The observations of Knight on this subject are particularly valuable ; they more 

 immediately refer to the Guernsey lily, but they are equally applicable to all exotic bulbs. B « lbo "s 

 roots increase in size, and proceed in acquiring powers to produce blossoms, only during the periods 

 in which they have leaves, and in which such leaves are exposed to light ; and these organs al way, 

 operate most efficiently when they are young, and have just attained their *ull growth. The bulb 

 of the Guernsey lily, as it is usually cultivated in this country, rarely produces leaves till September, 

 or the beginning of' October, at which period, the quantity of light afforded by ^ our climate i . pro- 

 bablv quite insufficient for a plant, which is said to be a native of the warm and bright climate 

 of Japan ; and before the return of spring, its leaves are necessarily grown old, and nearly out ot 

 office even when they have been safelv protected from frost through the winter. It is, therefore, not 

 extraordinary, that a bulb of this species, which has once expended itself in affording flowers, should but 

 verv slowly recover the power of blossoming again. Considering, therefore the deficiency of light and 

 heal owing to the late period of its vegetation, as the chief cause why this plant so often fails to produce 

 flowers I inferred that nothing more would be required to make it blossom, as freely, at least, as it does 

 in cJernsev than such a slight degree of artificial heat, applied early in the summer as would prove 

 sufficient to make the bulbs vegetate a few weeks earlier than usual in the autumn. Early in the summer 

 of 18 16 a bulb, which had blofsomed in the preceding autumn, was subjected to such a degree of artificial 

 heat as occasioned it to vegetate six weeks, or more, earlier than it would otherwise have done. It did 

 no? of course produce any flowers; but in the following season it blossomed early and strongly, and 



