130 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



surface of the soil. The Madonna Lily starts into 

 growth again a few weeks after it has died down, and 

 it is always injured by disturbance when in growth. 

 It should, therefore, be planted as early in autumn 

 or late summer as possible, and should only be dis- 

 turbed, if at all, as soon as it has died down. When 

 it is doing well, it should be left alone; and gardeners 

 should not be allowed to disturb the soil anywhere 

 near it. The forking and hoeing of gardeners is a 

 frequent cause of failure with all lilies. When the 

 Madonna Lily suffers badly from the disease the safest 

 plan is to dig all the bulbs up at once and burn them, 

 taking care not to plant new bulbs in the same place. 

 They sometimes recover if they are dug up as soon 

 as they have died down, and if the bulbs are well 

 dusted with sulphur and placed in full sun on a shelf 

 in the greenhouse to bake for some weeks. It is well 

 always to dust the bulbs in sulphur when they are 

 planted. When the disease first appears, it may some- 

 times be cured if the leaves of the plant are sprayed 

 with Bordeaux mixture. This should be done at 

 intervals of a week or so, several times. Lilium tes- 

 taceum is said to be a natural hybrid between the 

 Madonna Lily and L. Chalcedonicum. It is, after the 

 Madonna Lily, perhaps the finest of all garden lilies, 

 and it is easier to grow, although it also suffers some- 

 times from the lily disease. It grows very tall and 

 has beautiful flowers of an apricot yellow with bright 

 scarlet anthers. It should be treated like the Ma- 

 donna Lily, but does not suffer so much from distur- 



