CHAPTEK VIII. 



THE LILAC. 



The name comes from the Persian word, lilag, a 

 flower. The common kind has been in cultivation for 

 ages. It probably originated in Persia. ^N'urserymen 

 and botanists now call these syringas, and the syringas 

 are classed as Philadelphus ; but as we are Avriting for 

 the common people we wilfuse their terms. 



If one should ask the ordinary observer how many 

 kinds there were he would answer three, the common 

 purple, the white and the Persian. There are over 130 

 kinds now in cultivation, and the number is increas- 

 ing by hybridizing. Why this great family of hardy 

 ornamentals has been ignored and neglected all these 

 years, it is hard to understand, for they are exactly 

 what is needed to cheer up the great northwest. They 

 are among the hardiest things we have, and there is 

 hardly one in the lars^e collection but what will thrive 

 in Manitoba. The time of flowering reaches from ear- 

 ly spring till about the first of July, and the variety 

 of foliage is something wonderful, varying from the 

 large corrugated leaves of the Bretschneider to the 

 delicate foliage of the Pekinensis and the feathery 

 leaves of the cut-leafed Persian. We have secured a 

 photo of half a dozen kinds to show the rich variety. 



