IN MY LADY'S GARDEN 



strength and vigour to the plant, so that it is on the due 

 consideration of the special needs of these roots, as well as 

 of the bulb, that the successful cultivation of various lilies 

 greatly depends. Lilies are not, as a rule, very delicate, as 

 they are natives of the Northern hemisphere, from the west 

 of California to the extreme east of Japan ; but a few lilies 

 from the mountains of Southern India, Burmah, Formosa, 

 and the Philippine Islands, &c., are not sufficiently hardy to 

 grow in Britain except under glass, and these are but too 

 rarely seen in our conservatories, the difficulties of their 

 cultivation having been much exaggerated. 



Botanically, the liliums are divided into five sub-genera, 

 the first of which (cardiocrinum) are distinguished by broad 

 heart-shaped leaves, and the only member of that sub-genus 

 with which we have to do is the tallest of all the lilies, L. 

 giganteum, from the Himalayas, the Japanese type of this 

 plant (L. cordifolium) being decidedly inferior to the Indian 

 plant, which attains the height of 10 feet or 12 feet under 

 good cultivation, producing a spike of tubular white lilies, 

 slightly stained with green and purple. The large bulb 

 usually dies after flowering, but it produces several small 

 offsets before doing so, and it is necessary to cultivate these 

 carefully for a few years before they attain to flowering size. 



The Giant lily requires partial shade, with deep soil with 

 which peat, sand, and leaf mould have been mixed. The loss 

 of the bulb after blooming more or less imperfectly is prob- 

 ably on account of the destruction of the lower roots for 

 purposes of packing, from which all imported lilies suffer, 

 and until our horticulturists set their faces against this 

 disastrous practice of cutting off" the roots of lilies before 

 sending them out, we shall always be at a certain disadvantage 

 in cultivating any but home-grown bulbs. Although hardy 

 enough to grow in the open air in the South of Britain and 

 Ireland, this lily should be planted in a greenhouse border in 

 cold districts. 



The second sub-genus (Eulirion) contains all the pure 

 white trumpet lilies, such as L. candidum, the Madonna 

 lily, L. Harrisi, &c., with other varieties of L. longiflorum, 



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