86* NOTES ON LILIES 



dried off like Hyacinths and Tulips; their scales should never be 

 allowed to become dry, since any part of their weight or substance 

 lost by evaporation weakens the bulb in inverse proportion. If Lily 

 bulbs be planted in deep moist, well-enriched, porous soils, their 

 bulbs increase in number and bulk, and this will be found to be 

 especially the case in those of the Bulbiferum and Thunbergianum 

 types. Apart from increase of bulk by division, it has been observed 

 (see page 14) that a yearly increment of growth occurs in the centre 

 of the bulb ; the outer and old scales are pushed farther apart by new 

 growth, and the bulb increases in size more or less, according to- 

 its nature and health. In choosing bulbs, therefore, in addition 

 to preferring a hard, weighty bulb, choose also one that has 

 a light coloured plump interior or "heart," showing good recent 

 growth for next season's flowering. We were particularly led to 

 these observations by noting some bulbs of Broiunii which had grown 

 well last year but did not flower ; the bulbs were half as large again 

 as when planted, the interior was filled up with light-coloured new 

 scales, outside of which were a few discoloured scales evidently of 

 former growth. Therefore, when we hear it said that a Lily bulb 

 takes a year to recover itself after importation or transplantation* 

 this really means one of two things namely, either during that time 

 an offset has been developed (from the bulb planted) to the flowering 

 stage, or an increase of heart-growth has taken place in the interior or 

 " heart " of the bulb planted, from which the flowering stem rises the 

 secoiid year after planting ; and one or other of these processes is what 

 generally takes place when bulbs have suffered in transplantation ; 

 but imported bulbs, if of good size, generally bloom the first year,, 

 unless they are kept out of the ground too long and become 

 shrivelled a sure indication that much of their substance has been 

 lost by evaporation, and so weakening is drought 011 Lily bulbs that 

 a plump, fleshy bulb the size of a Walnut will produce a much 

 stronger flower-stem than a large bulb, the scales of which have 

 become shrivelled and flabby. One season the late frosts destroyed 

 the young growth of some bulbs of Testaceum, and they were thought 

 to be dead. The bed where planted was used as a barrow path, and 

 in the ensuing autumn, when the path was dug up, the bulbs were 

 found quite fresh and plump, being, in point of fact, much finer than 

 others which had not had their growth injured. This leads us to the 

 question whether we might not with advantage grow two sets of all 

 our fine Lilies, allowing each set to flower alternately. At any rate, 

 all the evidence we have on this phase of Lily growth goes to prove 

 that we might advantageously strengthen our imported Lily bulbs, 

 by topping the flower-stems so as to prevent the production of flowers, 

 even if we did not, spring-frost-like, destroy the growth altogether 



* "Which, however, but rarely occurs in the case of Auratum and Speciosum, although. 

 Pardalinum and Huiriboldtii frequently fail to bloom the first season after importation.. 



