THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



J47 



border. The principal thing to observe 

 with the lilies in the ground in winter 

 is that it is a well drained soil. A good 

 loam overlying a gravel would be per 

 fection, but any soil that is drained will 

 do. In the absence of peat, which many 

 like, dig in a few inches of very rotten 

 manure or rotten leaf-mold from the 

 woods, and plant the bulbs when per 

 fectly dormant. August is a good month. 

 Plant six inches deep. 



In addition to the longiflorum and 

 lancifolium type, these will be found per 

 fectly hardy: 



L. Canadense, orange, finely spotted, 

 two to three feet. 



L. croceum, yellow, four to five feet. 



L. excelsum or testaceum, yellow tinged 

 with red, four to five feet. 



L. Hansonii, reddish orange, three to 

 four feet. 



L. Humboldtii, orange, very fine, four 

 to five feet. 



L. pardalinum, orange with purple 

 spots, five to six feet; of this there are 

 several fine varieties. 



L. pomponium, bright red, two to three 

 feet. 



L. rubescens, or Washingtoniannm, 

 white tinged with purple, four to five 

 feet. 



L. superbum, orange red, spotted, four 

 to five feet. 



L. tenuifolium, scarlet, dwarf and 

 slender, but handsome, one foot. 



L. Thunbergianum, red, two to three 

 feet. 



L. tigrinum, the well-known tiger lily, 



Lilium Candidum. 



deep orange, purple spots, very hardy, 

 two to three feet. 



And several others, both species and 

 varieties. 



LILY OF THE VALLEY-Convallaria 

 Majalis. 



We can remember pots of lily of the 

 valley being grown in our greenhouses 

 in March and April many years ago. 

 These pots (a 5-inch or 6-inch) con 

 tained a solid mass of roots and were 

 not disturbed or shifted for several years. 

 After flo\vering they were stood outside 

 and kept watered till fall, when they 

 were plunged in coal ashes and a few 

 inches of the same material thrown over 

 them. This was growing them in a nat 

 ural way, and a very great addition they 

 were to the attractiveness of the con 

 servatory. As pot plants they are of 

 little consideration. Within twenty-five 

 years the flower must now be supplied 

 the year around. 



When first lily of the valley was pro 

 duced in the summer and fall months it 

 commanded a most lucrative price, but 

 nowadays at the close margin at which it 

 is sold you must be successful or you had 

 far better not attempt it; rather leave 

 the growing to the specialist and buy 

 your flowers from the grower or commis 

 sion man. 



A few years ago in the columns of one 

 of the trade papers appeared several ar 

 ticles from the pen of Mr. B. Simpson, 

 who can not only write plainly, and ex 

 plicitly convey his knowledge to us, but 



has been one of the largest and most 

 successful growers of this dainty little 

 flower, and though not copying him ver 

 batim, I acknowledge to him many of 

 the important details on growing now 

 given in this article, and particularly the 

 care of the pips in cold storage, for it 

 must be remembered that while the win 

 ter is the natural cold storage for the 

 pips that give us the flowers from the 

 middle of January to possibly the eno! 

 of May, the other seven or eight months 

 we must depend on those whose growth 

 has been arrested by cold storage. 



I never did believe that to put the 

 original cases into cold storage and ex 

 pect them to come out in seven or eight 

 months and give good results was at all 

 the reasonable or proper plan. When 

 first received, which is usually in No 

 vember, unpack at once. Large growers 

 place them in trenches in coldframes and 

 between each row of trenches put some 

 sandy soil or finely sifted coal ashes, and 

 over the tops of the pips two inches of 

 the same material. Small growers will 

 find boxes holding conveniently the quan 

 tity they want to force weekly or bi 

 weekly more convenient than the first 

 plan, because you can easily bring in the 

 box containing just the quantity you 

 want. When putting them outside the 

 smallest and weakest pips should be put 

 by themselves and labeled and reserved 

 for the latest spring forcing, but with 

 those that are to go into cold storage it 

 is just the reverse, and those which are 

 to be retarded longest should be the 

 strongest. 



