AND THEIR CULTURE, 187 



three or four years after planting, as patches that have been undisturbed, 

 flower much better, and grow taller than those fresh planted. Why ? 

 For the same reason as already stated, too late planting in the first 

 instance. 



2. " As regards the evils of late planting, it would be folly to attempt to 

 transplant the White Lily (L. Candidum) in October, as it will then be 

 making active growth, and if the roots be disturbed, it will have the effect 

 of wholly, or partially, preventing its flowering next year. This remark 

 holds good with regard to all Lilies,* with the exception of a very few 

 late-flowering ones. We see the green tufts of leaves shooting up from 

 the White Lily bulbs before October arrives, and we can therefore imagine 

 the activity that must be going on beneath the surface of the soil. With, 

 regard to other Lilies, we cannot see this, but experiments can lay opem 

 the mysterious underground workings of Nature, as plainly as the green, 

 tufts of leaves can be seen by the naked eye. At the end of Jane, 187t\. 

 I lifted and transplanted a number of White Lilies ; they bloomsd well 

 during the next summer, if not better than those which had not been 

 disturbed. At the end of October in the same year, I lifted and trans- 

 planted a few bulbs, each of five different sorts, including the White Lily ; 

 only three stems out of all I had transplanted came up the following 

 season, and even these did not show the slightest signs of bloom. So 

 much for early and late planting. The method of reproduction is different 

 in different plants, but, as a general principle, it may be stated that a 

 parent bulb is charged with the function of liberating germs or seed- 

 buds^ which vegetate as soon as brought into a condition fitted for their 

 growth. And this is, in general, about eight or ten days after the flowers* 

 of the parent bulb have faded. J It is very soon after this time, that w& 

 are enabled, by experiment, to observe the phenomenon called " the- 

 three generations in one" that is, the parent bulb, now destined by Nature to 

 perish, the new bulb within it, which is destined 1o bloom next summer, and 

 the seed bud within the new bulb, which is destined to flower the year after that. 

 From this, it will be seen that a Lily is not an annual, nor is it a biennial, 

 but a part of both, two years comprising the period of its existence from 

 birth to death ; it is certainly not a perennial, as some have called it. 

 These seed-buds, as soon as they can be discerned, even by the aid of a 

 magnifying glass, can, by a simple, though necessarily protracted, 



* Dunedin's assertion is a little too sweeping, much depends on the character of the 

 season, whether fine or dry, wet or cold, early or late ; we should prefer planting after 

 the first autumnal showers had begun to soften the ground, and before the later and. 

 heavier rains had stimulated root growth. In some years, Lily planting may be done 

 well at the end of August and September, in other seasons, a month or six weeks later 

 will suit better. L. Candidum and one or two others are exceptions to this rule, they 

 start in the autumn, and their foliage is persistent all the winter. The majority of 

 Lilies push up their foliage in April and May. 



t With Dunedin'si use of the term seed-bud, I do not agree ; germs, offshoots, bulbils, , 

 or bulblets are admissable, as applied to axillary or root-stock buds, but the term seed-bud, 

 is a misnomer. 



J A good time to remove Lily bulbs. But I should not consider them to be properly 

 matured and fit for removal, during the period of inflorescence. From a fortnight after- 

 the flowers have faded, to a month, if the weather be dry, is the best time ; after that 

 period, growth will ensue as soon as the first heavy rain- fall takes place. 



