^ The ^Afternoon of the Year fj£ 



with leaves from the root to the top, which by little and 

 little as they grow up towards the top, do waxe smaller 

 and smaller. In the top of the said garnished stem grow 

 the pleasant, beautiful, white and sweet smelling Lillies 

 divided into six small, long and narrow leaves, which have 

 in the outside of every leafe a certaine strake or rib, but 

 within they are altogether of an excellent showing and 

 pure white colour, bending somewhat backwards at the 

 top : in the middle amongst these leaves, there hang up 

 six very small stems, six small yellow points, or little 

 markes, as it were tongues : in the middle amongst these 

 also, there groweth another long upright and triangled 

 stem, thicker than the rest, and like to the clapper of a 

 bell.' 



There is a considerable amount of truth in the state- 

 ment that Madonna lilies flourish best in cottage gardens. 

 For cottagers plant them amongst other flowers (thereby 

 giving them shade at their roots) and in small gardens 

 they are usually protected from the cutting winds which 

 they abhor. Lastly, but very far from least, they are left 

 undisturbed for years. These lilies never seem to flower 

 so well as when their bulbs have worked themselves half 

 out of the soil. Madonna lilies, so far from disliking lime, 

 are lime lovers. On sandy soils, which otherwise they like, 

 these lilies do very poorly indeed until they are given 

 lime. At Kew it was found that they usually died out 

 after two years, and then they were planted in ground 

 which had been given a good dressing of lime. This has 

 kept them in perfect health and every November they 

 are given basic slag (6 ozs. to the square yard). 



Our florists call Lilium auratum ' the golden-rayed lily 

 of Japan,' and it is frequently described as the most 



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