LILIES 71 



With home-grown bulbs, the moment to turn them out of 

 their pots arrives when the leaves and stems have become 

 quite yellow a week too soon is better than a week too late 

 as root action is suspended for an incredibly short time. My 

 practice has always been to separate the larger from the 

 smaller bulbs, re-potting all immediately, and have found 

 it answer much better than keeping them above ground, 

 even for two or three weeks, in spite of the fact that the 

 L. candidum bulbs sent over from Holland do not seem 

 to suffer. 



Two-thirds of turfy loam to one of leaf-mould, some well- 

 decayed manure from a spent hot-bed, two or three double 

 handfuls of road-grit or coarse sharp sand, and a sprinkling of 

 soot, well mixed together, make an excellent compost which 

 suits most Lilies, but there are a few, like L. Grayi and L. phila- 

 delphicum, which prefer peat. The pots must be well drained, 

 and a handful of old hot-bed refuse well rammed down above 

 the crocks is desirable. After potting a good watering should 

 be given, and then a thick layer of cocoanut-fibre refuse 

 will keep the Lily bulbs safe until they begin to push. The 

 young growths must be protected from frost in the same way 

 as other bulbs, but the more hardily Lilies can be grown, and 

 the more they are in the open air (always, of course, according 

 to the weather) the better. It is a melancholy sight to see 

 such fine Lilies as L. speciosum, for example, spoilt by over- 

 much coddling, but they should be brought under glass as 

 soon as the flower-buds are formed, and watch kept lest these 

 should be crippled by green fly. They will require an 

 abundance of water during the growing season, but after 

 flowering this must be gradually withheld, as with other 

 plants of the like nature, and the pots should stand 

 in some sheltered place out of doors for the bulbs to 

 ripen. 



It is easy enough to flower Lilies well for one season, 



