I A Souvenir d'Esperen Pear. 



every year they produce a quantity of offsets, which, in two or three seasons, 

 become flowering-bulbs in their turn. They are tolerably hardy ; but, in a 

 very wet soil, they should be carefully protected ; or, rather, the soil in 

 which they are planted should always be well drained in the first place. 

 They will bear to be planted six inches and even a foot in depth; and they 

 are then safer, as they are less exposed to alternations of frost and thaw. 

 Common garden soil, enriched with old manure, and lightened with sand, 

 if it is too dense and heavy, suits them perfectly. Like most lilies, how- 

 ever, they are grateful for an admixture of peat or leaf-mould. Plant in 

 autumn, five or six inches apart, and protect the bulbs with a covering of 

 tan or dry leaves. The shoots will show themselves early in May ; and in 

 June the bed will be covered with deep-green glistening foliage and superb 

 white flowers. These lilies are cheap, as they multiply rapidly; and a 

 dozen or more of them is no very rash purchase for anybody. 



They will grow as well in pots as in the open ground, or better; and are 

 perfectly adapted for " forcing." The compost used should be of loam, de- 

 cayed cow-manure, peat, leaf-mould, and sand, well mixed. Besides Lilium 

 longiflonim, there are several varieties, or allied species, closely resembling it. 

 Lilium eximiujn is a little larger, but apparently not quite so hardy. The 

 variety called Liu Kiu differs only in a prolongation of the lower petal, 

 which destroys the symmetry of the trumpet-shaped flower. Lilimn Takesi- 

 ma is large and vigorous, with a dark purplish stem ; that of the others being 

 light green. Unlike Ltlium longifioruin, it bears seed freely, and is thus an 

 inviting subject for the hybridist. 



SOUVENIR D'ESPEREN PEAR. 



By Marshall P. Wilder, President American Pomological Society. 



Size above medium ; form obovate, obtuse-pyriform, inclined to oval, 

 somewhat angular ; surface a little irregular ; calyx closed, but little sunk ; 

 stem long, set without depression ; skin dull iron-russet on a clear green 

 ground, becoming yellowish at maturity ; flesh tender, melting, juicy, but- 

 tery, slightly granulous near the core ; flavor sweet, rich, with a nutlike arc- 



