.")() MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



lets. Again when we watch a customer selecting bulbs at the 

 flower shop we notice that only the very largest ones are taken, 

 which is altogether wrong, if we want a genuine mixture, as nearly 

 every variety makes a different size and shape of bulb, and very 

 often it happens that the choicest flowers are concealed in the small- 

 est bulbs. 



Considering that nearly every catalogue lists the Ismene cala- 

 thena grandiflora, it seems that about every one must be familiar 

 with it, either from personal experience or seeing it in a neighbor's 

 garden, but I cannot refrain from speaking of it as a very useful 

 and easy to handle bulb. It is very often called the white amaryl- 

 lis, a very appropriate name, as it resembles an amaryllis flower 

 in shape and habit very much. The bulbs do best when planted 

 in May and covered over with soil to a depth of three or four inches; 

 during June and running into July they will produce their pure 

 white fragrant blossoms very freely before the foliage appears. 



Another bulb that should be given more attention is what we usu- 

 ally call the summer hyacinth or Hyacinihus candicans, or more 

 properly speaking Galtonia candicans. This bulb grown singly 

 does not attract much attention, but when grown as it should be 

 in masses of at least twenty-five or more, it makes a fine show and 

 a splendid background for other flowers, and they will remain 

 in flower several weeks. While it is a native of South Africa, it is 

 considered quite hardy, but my experience has been that it is 

 better to take it up altogether, and treat as a tender bulb, or cover 

 well with a mulch. The bulbs grow readily from seed, and will 

 sometimes produce bloom the second year and always the third 

 year. 



We now come to another important group of summer blooming 

 bulbs, namely, Liliums, but as this subject has been fully covered 

 in a recent lecture, I will not dwell at length, although there is 

 temptation to do so, for where can we find a nobler, grander group 

 of flowers than we find among the lilies; how their purity compels 

 our admiration; how their fragrance charms and soothes and seems 

 to carry us into another world. I must speak of two or three which 

 really ought to be better known. Hansoni, which is a variety 

 named in honor of P. Hanson, of Brooklyn, by Max Leichtlin, 

 of Germany. It is a fine variety growing from two to three feet 



