42 NOTES ON LILIES 



soils, a dozen Szovitzianum in the peat and loam made miserable 

 growth, while the dozen in the loam bed have many of them flowered well 

 and seeded. In the other two beds the six Auratum all came up fairly, 

 but the six in the loam and sand bed were rather the strongest ; all the 

 bulbs were newly imported ones. The above, I think, shows that imported 

 bulbs of different Lilies have different times of establishing themselves, 

 and that with cold and wet in the early part of the season the soil which 

 suits Lilies best in normal seasons may not then give the best results. 

 Many of the varieties of L. Superbum are very beautiful, they like shade, 

 and rather moist soil. Some years back, I do not know whether it still 

 exists, there was a grand undisturbed bed of Superbum at Messrs. 

 Waterer's, at Woking ; this Lily was at home in the moist peat, its 

 great tall stems, with richly coloured flowers, had a very fine effect. 

 L. Canadense, in all its varieties, grows easily, and is very beautiful. It is 

 usually said, find the native habitat of a plant, and reproduce it as nearly as 

 you can ; if a Lily be found in shady places, grow it in shade ; but a dis- 

 tinguished Dutch chemist botanist, who has himself done great things 

 as regards introduction of different plants, especially into Java, once 

 showed me that this was not a universal law, or rather that what appears 

 to be the reproduction of the habitat, is really not so ; and that one unat- 

 tainable condition sometimes changes the whole circumstances so com- 

 pletely, that he had known plants which, in their own country, flourished 

 in shade, when transported, to thrive best in sun. The moral is, I think 

 where possible, try experiments for yourself, plant a few bulbs in very 

 different situations the first year will tell you in which direction to steer. 

 I must end with a few words on pot cultivation. We have some 

 thousands of bulbs, both little and big, planted in the open, but I think 

 there are some species which cannot be brought to their full beauty except 

 under a roof. Perhaps the simplest way is to mention how our Lilies are 

 treated : which species succeed well here, and which do not. Till lately 

 the Lily-house was an orchard-house, 60 feet by 20. In this, Lilies 

 answered very well, except in very hot weather, and then some of them, 

 when in bloom, were moved to a rough shed, open at the front, and facing 

 north. Last year a house was put up, giving as much air as possible, in 

 our shadiest corner ; it gets only the east sun. The Lilies succeed very 

 well, and the blossoms last longer than in the orchard-house. Had we 

 the situation, a house should be placed in complete shade, for I feel sure 

 that some Lilies would thrive best there. The soil we use for most Lilies 

 consists of two parts fibrous peat, one part loam, and, if the last is at all 

 stiff, some sharp sand is added. In this ^peciosum^ Longiflorum, 

 Canadense, Californicum, Pardalinum, Paruam, Puberulum, Thuriberyianum, 

 Coridion, Hansoni, Tigrinum, Giganteum, and some others, flourish and in- 

 crease ; Auratum, Krameri, Superbum, and Leichtlinii, only in some seasons. 

 The last, from its distinctness, is a favourite here ; we are trying it with 

 more loam. Chalcedonicum, Ten wi folium, Buschianunij White Martagon, 

 &c., bloom for a time, but the bulbs waste, and we lose them. Brownii 

 occasionally succeeds splendidly, but is uncertain. We continue trying 

 different soils, and earlier removal to the cooler house." G. F. Wilson> 

 Garden, vol. 8, p. 277. 



