50 NOTES ON LILIES . 



and one with seventeen flowers on it, and I have had one gigantic flower 

 10 inches across the bloom, and measuring across the folly expanded 

 petals, from tip to tip, 16 inches. With me, the general height of 

 Auratum this year, varied from 6 to 9 feet and upwards. As to the 

 number of flowers on a single stem, we have had some this year (1877) with 

 thirty seven ; last year, one with a fasciated stem bore seventy eight. I do 

 not consider this year that they have progressed so well with me as when the 

 sun has been less powerful. I have just succeeded in flowering Neil- 

 gherrense out of doors, the first, I believe, that has flowered in this county ; 

 it has now gone off after being out about a week ; the stem was 4 foot 7 

 inches high, and the flower measured about 7 inches across. Cultivators 

 sometimes tell me, that they plant Lilies from 18 inches to 22 inches 

 deep, but in this cold county the sun's influence is not strong enough, at 

 that depth, to bring up the young growths in spring. I believe 8 inches 

 is the proper depth for the finest bulbs, and then only with light soil 

 above ; I know that the bulbs are not injured by frost, and I do not think 

 they are by wet, because I have a small bulb about 10 inches deep in 

 ground that was quite boggy, which yielded seventeen fine flowers this 

 summer, and was much earlier in its growth (though not in its flowering) 

 than any of the Lilies planted in drier soils. I always put sand round the 

 bulb ; it prevents the snails and slugs working into the scales. Since 

 writing the above at Cardigan, I have returned to my garden. I have 

 lately been lifting my plants of Auratum, and planting them in the 

 open border ; they turned out fine healthy bulbs, and are growing well ; 

 some had flowered without making a single root below the biilb, the 

 flowers and stalks being entirely supported by the roots from the stems 

 above the bulb. The roots that are now forming under the bulb are 

 manifestly increasing and feeding it, and then the bulb throws up a stem, 

 which is in turn, in a great measure, supported by its roots above the 

 bulb. This is a good argument for tolerably deep planting. Spe- 

 ciosum and Auratum should never be grown in pots with no soil above 

 the bulb. Some Lilies seem to make no root-growth above the bulb; 

 Croceum does not, nor do the Martagon Lilies ; such, should evidently 

 not be planted deeper than from 3 inches to 4 inches. Everybody who 

 loves hardy flowers, should have the white Martagon, on account of its 

 loveliness in form and colour ; next to it I should place Martagon Dal- 

 maticum, var. Catanii, a blackish purple Lily, to my mind a royal colour. 

 My white Martagon grows freely in turfy loam, and seeds freely, and I 

 have no doubt that all the Martagons will do well in that soil. Colchi- 

 cum, otherwise known as Seovitzianum, is a grand Lily for the 

 herbaceous border, delicate in scent, and very distinct in every way; it 

 grows about 4 feet high, and has large citron-coloured flowers spotted 

 with black. There is also a perfectly pure yellow variety without spots, 

 Monadelplium. L. Chalcedonicum (The Turk's Cap), is known to all, 

 but few people have seen the large variety known as Chalcedonicum 

 Majus. Lilies of the Chalcedonicum variety grow superbly in the sandy 

 soil of Glasnevin, and you could find many stems with a corona of six or 

 seven flowers, but this form of ]\[ojas eclipses them all ; there was 

 only one flower on a strong stem, but that flower was almost as 



