118 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



ularly in the case of bulbs. Most bulbous plants are 

 apt to rot if manure touches the bulb itself, and to 

 many of them manure is poisonous as a food. It 

 should not, therefore, be mixed with the soil about 

 the bulb, as it may be mixed with the soil about the 

 roots of many gross feeding plants, such as Pansies 

 or Poeonies, but should be placed well below the bulb, 

 so that the roots will either never reach it or will only 

 reach it when they have grown strong and when the 

 manure has lost its rankness. There are many plants, 

 usually supposed to dislike manure, which are the 

 better for it applied thus in light, hot soils. It is a 

 common belief, for instance, that all Lilies dislike 

 manure, and so the most of them do anywhere near 

 the bulb. But in light soils the Madonna Lily, Lilium 

 testaceum, L. Chalcedonicum, L. Szovitzianum, L. 

 auratum, L. speciosum, L. pardalinum, and L. super- 

 bum are all the better for a good layer of well-rotted 

 manure placed well below their bulbs, to say nothing 

 of easy Lilies like L. tigrinum and L. croceum. The 

 manure benefits them not so much as a plant food, 

 though some of them are even the better for this, 

 nourishment in moderation, but as an artificial pro- 

 tection against drought, since it holds moisture, which 

 is drawn upwards towards their roots and bulbs by 

 the heat of the sun just when they need it most. Ma- 

 nure can be used in this way as a protection against 

 drought for many surface-rooting plants which may 

 not need it as a food. But the gardener, if he does 

 not know for certain whether or not it may be poison- 



