LILIES 67 



some require treatment or soil difficult to give, but a few 

 hints as to those which are most likely to succeed in a general 

 way may not be out of place. Amongst early kinds i.e., 

 flowering in June and July may be reckoned the different 

 varieties of L. thunbergianum, also called L. elegans. This is 

 a dwarf-growing species, of which many varieties have been 

 raised. They belong to the group with erect heads of cup- 

 shaped flowers, of which the well-known Orange Lily (L. 

 croceum) of our borders is a type, and are very handsome in 

 their varied shades of colour from lemon and yellow to 

 orange-red. Some are so dwarf in habit that they actually 

 flower at little more than 6 in. high. Such an one is the 

 buff-coloured variety, L. alutaceum, which is also one of the 

 earliest. A nearly allied species, L. umbellatum ( = L. 

 davuricum), fairly common in our gardens, is rather larger 

 in all its parts, and the flowers are mostly of shades of dark 

 orange-red. Both species are frequently grown in pots, but 

 care should be taken to give shade in bright weather, when 

 they are flowering under glass, otherwise they quickly lose 

 their rich colouring and turn brown. 



A pretty little early Lily, of a different type, is the slender- 

 growing L. tenuifolium, a miniature turn-cap, with bright-red 

 flowers, and quite at home in a pot. This is one of the Lilies 

 most easily raised from seed, which is fortunate, as the bulbs 

 are not very long-lived. 



Amongst white Lilies, the best known, yet one of the 

 fairest of them all, is the Madonna Lily (L. candidum), a 

 wilful beauty, not always kind, for, strange to say, it will not 

 everywhere succeed. As we all know, this Lily is much in 

 demand for church decoration, and huge cases containing 

 thousands of bulbs are sent over from Holland every autumn 

 for forcing purposes. These bulbs are, for the most part, 

 finer than any I have ever seen of English growth. They are 

 cultivated, presumably, in the same enriched soil of the sand 



