CCLTCRE OF FAVORITE PLANTS. 



L IB O XI A . 



EAT and modest in flower, and not without some claim to a subdued 

 nagnificence, this lovely member of the Figwort family is of com- 

 laratively recent introduction from Japan. The favorite species is 

 lUnominated L. floribunda, from its free flowering habit, often almost 

 hiding its foliage under the wealth of its blossoms. The color, 

 which is most frequently an orange or pure yellow on the under 

 shading upward to a scarlet or deep, velvety crimson on the upper 

 if the flower, contrasts finely with the light green foliage of the plant. 

 i>- a slender-branched plant and of a tidy, compact j^rowth; it can be formed 

 to the resemblance of a ball encircling and entirely hiding the pot in which 

 yrows, making it .\ \ ery desirable house ornament. The soil in which it can 

 n woukl comprise, in about equal parts, sand, leaf-mold, loam and manure. 

 Tile Libonia delights in plenty of pot-room, water and liquid manure in the growing and 

 flowering season, but abhors stagnant moisture, and therefore should receive its supplies 

 in limited but repeated quantities. It blooms from December to May, after which time it 

 should be placed out of doors in some partially shaded situation. It is most frequently 

 propagated -from cuttings about an inch long taken from the j^oung shoots. It can be 

 raised from seed if sown early, and will flower the season following. 



In those sections of our countrv w-here there is little or no frost, it makes a very fine 

 ornamental plant for outdoor cultivation, either to stand alone or to be grown as a border 

 plant. It is not quite hardy enough to withstand our northern winters, though it will 

 bear considerable cold, and blooms well in about sixty degrees of heat. The beauty of 

 the plant in flower, and the ease with which it may be cultivated, should render it a more 

 ireneral fa\ orite than it has vet become. 



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LILY 



) 



OR outdoor culture these bulbs require a good, sandy loam, which 

 should be dug to a depth say of eighteen inches, and well worked; 

 g> ;|,1 I ^llp^V the Japanese, Chinese, and a few other species do best in a clay loam. 

 — ' The bulbs ought to be set five or six inches deep and left undis- 



turbed for se\eral years, as they thrive much better and gi\e more 

 m. Stable manure, until thoroughly decayed, or any other fermenting 

 materud, is obnoxious to them, but leaf-mold or plenty of good, old cow- 

 anure would be a w holcsomc enrichment. In removing, it is best to keep them 

 the ground as -hort a time as possililc; and if bulbs received from seedsmen 

 ? in a shriveled state, a wrapping of moss, or cotton slightly dampened, for two 

 three 'days before planting, would freshen them unless past redemption. Many 

 of the choicer variety of Lilies are grown as house plants in cities by those who have no 

 gardens. A good soil for their growth comprises equal parts of loam and peat, or leaf- 



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