LILIES AND THEIR WHIMS 275 



least expensive species for your garden, do not think 

 that you may relax your vigilance. 



There is a form of fungous mould that attacks the 

 bulbs of lilies without rhyme or reason and is the in- 

 sidious tuberculosis of the race. Botrytis cinerea is 

 its name and it seizes upon stalk and leaves in the form 

 of spots that are at first yellow and then deepen in 

 colour, until finally, having sapped the vitality of the 

 plant, it succumbs. 



Cold, damp, insufficient protection hi winter, all 

 serve to render the lily liable to its attacks, but the 

 general opinion among the wise is that the universal 

 overstimulation of lilies by fertilizers during late 

 years, especially of the white lilies used for church 

 and other decorative purposes, has undermined the 

 racial constitution and made it prone to attacks of 

 the enemy. Therefore, if you please, Mary Penrose, 

 sweet soil, sulphur, sand, and good winter covering, 

 if you would not have your lily bed a consumptives' 

 hospital ! 



Some lilies are also susceptible to sunstroke. When 

 growing hi the full light and heat of the sun, and the 

 buds are ready to open, suddenly the flowers, leaves, 

 and entire stalk will wither, as when in spring a tulip 

 collapses and we find that a meadow-mouse has nipped 



