Encyclopaedia of Gardening 49 



be well drained, and if stiff, lightened with road scrapings, leaf 

 mould, peat, and sand. They may be covered twice their own depth. 

 The best varieties for pot culture are speciosum (lancifolium) Kraet- 

 zeri, white; speciosum roseum and rubrum, white spotted with 

 red; longiflorum, white; and longiflorum Harrisii, white. The 

 most popular kinds for the garden are auratum, the Golden-rayed 

 Japanese Lily, and its varieties rubro-vittatum, virginale, and Wittei : 

 candidum, the white Garden or Madonna Lily, and its double 

 variety; Chalcedonicum, the scarlet Turk's cap; croceum, the 

 Orange Lily; Martagon, purple, and its white variety; tigrinum, 

 the Tiger Lily, and its varieties Fortunei and splendens. From 3 to 

 6 bulbs planted a foot apart in groups look well. Candidum ought 

 to be bought towards the end of summer, the others in autumn or 

 spring. Other good Liliums are giganteum, very tall, pure white 

 flowers, likes a cool, moist place; Henryi, orange; pomponium, 

 scarlet; pyrenaicum, the yellow Turk's cap; and sulphureum, pale 

 yellow. 



Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis). This deliciously scented 

 old favourite should be grown both outdoors and in. It is of the 

 easiest cultivation, and inexpensive. 

 It may be forced or treated as a 

 simple greenhouse plant with equal 

 success. Those who are satisfied with 

 flowers in April need give no artificial 

 heat whatever. It suffices to put 

 half a dozen " flowering crowns " 

 with the tips exposed in a 5 -in. pot 

 in autumn in the bulb soil, plunge 

 them in fibre like Hyacinths, and put 

 them in the greenhouse a few weeks 

 later. They will remain with little or 

 no sign of growth until the warm 

 weather of spring comes, and then 

 will come into bloom rapidly. What 

 is more, the leaves will follow quickly 

 on the flowers. When the crowns are 

 forced in bottom heat the flowers 

 come in advance of the leaves. By 

 getting retarded crowns that is, 

 crowns kept dormant by cold storage flowers may be had within 

 a month from starting the forcing, and with successions the 

 supply can be maintained over a long period. The crowns may be 

 put in damp moss or moist cocoa-nut fibre refuse for forcing, and 

 should be kept in the dark until the spikes are well up, then put in 

 the light and potted when the flowers show. To succeed with 

 Lilies of the Valley in the garden it is necessary to choose a moist, 

 shady place. A dressing of peat and leaf mould will improve the 

 soil. It is well to buy special clumps for planting in autumn, not 

 to rely on forced crowns. Fortin's Giant is a fine variety. Berlin 

 crowns are good for forcing. 



Montbretia. A quasi-bulbous plant which bulb dealers handle, 

 and which does well if bought and planted in autumn. The Mont- 



OFFSET OF LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



