CHAPTER XXV 



FIRST WEEK IN JULY 



MANY of the stately and beautiful lilies which now 

 adorn our gardens were quite unknown to our 

 r i r i c 



ancestors, for they come from Japan and from 

 China, which were, until recent times, closed countries. 

 Even the Madonna lily (Lilium candidum), the oldest of 

 these bulbs in British gardens, was not introduced into 

 England until 1596 (when it was brought from the South 

 of Europe), and the scarlet Turk's-cap, the Martagon lily, 

 with a few others from Central and Southern Europe, soon 

 followed it. 



But in these latter days, when most of the earth's surface 

 has been explored by botanists, we have a rich store of these 

 magnificent flowers, both of the hardy and tropical species. 

 The true lilies (excluding many so-called " lilies " which are 

 not of the same order, such as arum lilies, water-lilies, &c.) 

 have bulbs composed of scales, many of them being possessed 

 of two distinct sets of roots the thick, fleshy roots below 

 the bulb (which are perennial, and should never be removed 

 or injured), and the whorls of annual rootlets, which spring 

 from the base of the stem as it appears, and die away with it 

 gradually after the flowers are over. These two distinct 

 sets of roots are also quite unlike each other in their require- 

 ments, the lower roots being impatient of any impure 

 material, whilst the fibrous upper roots will assimilate the 

 richest of food, preferring this in layers, for another whorl 

 of hungry rootlets will appear a few inches above the surface 

 of the first mulch, crying out for more food ; and this may 

 be repeated several times, each layer of manure adding much 



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