^ The Scented garden ^ 



beautiful of lilies, but the Japanese themselves, so far 

 from appreciating its beauty, eat the bulbs as placidly as 

 we eat potatoes. It is strange that to such a flower-loving 

 nation lilies make little or no appeal. Plum and cherry 

 blossom, the wistaria, and the chrysanthemum are to the 

 Japanese the most lovely of flowers, but both in their 

 art and in their literature the lily is conspicuous by its 

 absence. L. auratum is the commonest wild lily in Japan 

 and grows abundantly, notably on the slopes of Fuji, 

 and on the volcanic deposits of the province of Idzu. The 

 Western demand has created the industry of farming 

 these bulbs, and on rich moist land they quickly attain 

 the large size demanded by the trade and incidentally 

 makes the bulbs fall a prey to disease. Hence the difficulty 

 of getting healthy bulbs of this beautiful lily, which when 

 first introduced was easily grown. Lily experts are 

 notoriously shy of laying down any hard and fast rules 

 on the subject of lily culture, but they do not cease to 

 emphasize that the craze for large bulbs is death to the 

 lily. For instance, extra large bulbs of the magnificent 

 Himalayan lily L. giganteum make wonderful growth the 

 first year, but not enough roots to sustain the towering 

 twelve feet of stature which they should attain ; unless 

 given exceptional conditions they usually fail miserably. 

 Yet these superb lilies are not difficult to grow if moderate 

 sized bulbs are planted in half-shade and given the well- 

 drained, extensive root-run in leaf mould which they 

 require. L. giganteum dies after flowering, but it usually 

 produces a few small bulbs round the parent bulb, and 

 these can be grown on. 



Second only to the rose for beauty of scent is the car- 

 nation, and, above all, the old clove carnation, the ' clove 

 168 



