BULBS 51 



yellow stripe ; both are exquisitely beautiful. Platyphyllum is 

 distinguished by its broad leaves. The Golden-rayed Lily and its 

 bevy of beautiful daughters do not enjoy a stiff, heavy, wet soil, 

 nor do they care for sand ; they like loam, and they like peat. 

 They thrive best among Rhododendrons, if not overgrown, be- 

 cause not only does the loam-peat compost of which the beds are 

 composed suit them, but the spring shelter is very grateful. 



The magnificent giganteum, which may attain to a height of 

 ten or twelve feet, is a very distinct Lily, with heart-shaped leaves. 

 It loves a moist, peaty, or loamy soil. It is necessary to have a 

 constant succession of bulbs coming on, because those that flower 

 one year are incapable of blooming the next, and the offsets which 

 they leave will not be strong enough to flower unless they are 

 exceptionally well suited by the soil and site. 



The most showy of the Liliums are the Turk's Cap (Martagon), 

 the Panther (pardalinum), the Orange (croceum), and chalce- 

 donicum. These are cheap, easily grown kinds, succeeding almost 

 anywhere. 



A few special sorts are Brownii, Hansoni, Henryi, Hum- 

 boldtii, Krameri, rubellum, sulphureum, testaceum, umbellatum, 

 and Washingtonianum. There are varieties of some of them, 

 differing in colour from the parents. 



In the case of the Liliums grown from home bulbs it may be 

 taken as a rule that the earlier they are planted in autumn the 

 better, in fact, as soon as the flower stems die back, because 

 the bulbs begin to form new roots at once. It is particularly 

 necessary in the case of candidum. With respect to imported 

 bulbs, inasmuch as they sometimes get dry in transit, it is a 

 good plan to embed them in moist cocoa-nut fibre refuse for a 

 few days before potting or planting, in order to freshen them. 



Liliums may be propagated by offsets, if these form, or by 

 partially embedding scales taken from the outside of fresh, healthy 

 bulbs in moist, sandy soil. 



