THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



261 



feet high, and of any convenient length. 

 When the ridge is three feet high, beat 

 and tread it down to two feeb ; then 

 add the remaining six inches, beating 

 it firmly with the fork. After it is 

 built, and its temperature an inch be- 

 low the surface is eighty degrees, the 

 bed is to be spawned. Spawn is sold 

 at the principal seed stores, in the form 

 of large and thin bricks. Each of these 

 bricks is broken into about eight pieces ; 

 these pieces are thrust into the bed 

 some nine inches apart. The spawn, if 

 good, will commence to " run " in about 

 three days, when the bed is to be covei*- 

 ed with soil, or " cased," from an inch 

 to two inches thick, according to the 

 stiffness of the soil. The mushrooms 

 break up through the covering of soil 

 from below. To retain its heat, the 

 bed must be covered, using the coarse 

 litter separated from the manure for the 

 purpose, and other straw, if needed ; 

 the covering varying in thickness from 

 six inches to two feet, according to the 

 temperature. — American Agriculturist. 



LILY CULTURE. 



The increasing culture of this class 

 of plants within tlie last decade is 

 astonishing ; and along with the in- 

 creasing culture has been the introduc- 

 tion of some e.Kcellent new species and 

 varieties. A bed of lilies in a con- 

 spicuous place in the gai'den has an 

 effect peculiar to itself, especially if it 

 contains a goodly number of the large 

 flowering kinds. Mixed at regular in- 

 tervals along the herbaceous border 

 with other hardy plants, they also look 

 pretty ; in fact, in any place where the 

 ground is suitable they are pretty. 



For soil, any kind in Avhich flowers 

 of all kinds flourish, if well drained, is 

 suitable for their culture. Have it 

 deeply dug, having thoroughly incor- 

 porated through it a good apjjlication 

 of well rotted barnyard manure. See 

 that it is well decomposed, for if not, 



fresh manure coming in contact with 

 the bulbs is very apt to make them 

 decay. Often people in their anxiety 

 to fertilize the ground well, for the re- 

 ception of some newly received lily 

 bulb, dig into the ground a large amount 

 of fresh manure, and plant their bulbs 

 in it ; then wonder why they never 

 start into growth. The reason is obvi- 

 ous. The fresh unfermented manure 

 desti'oyed the bulbs before they got a 

 chance to start. Better, if manure 

 cannot be got that is not well decayed, 

 plant in the soil as it is, and apply a 

 good coating of the fresh manure on 

 the surface of the soil after the planting 

 is done. Any bed shaded considerably, 

 but not over-hung with branches, is a 

 good place to plant lilies ; they succeed 

 better in just such a position than most 

 anything else, and will remain for years 

 and flower freely every season without 

 lifting to replant. 



Lilium candidum, and allied kinds, 

 are best planted in August, or not later 

 than September, for this reason, that 

 in order to secure good flowering shoots 

 the following season, a good growth 

 has to be made in the fall, which will 

 not be done unless planted thus early. 



L. auratum, speciosum, and such 

 kinds, do best planted during October 

 and November, and should be planted 

 five or six inches deep. 



When replanting a lily bed, select 

 the largest bulbs and plant them by 

 themselves, separate from the small 

 ones, which can be set thickly together 

 in some place where they can be left to 

 make a growth and form flowering 

 bulbs. 



Some beautiful species and varieties 

 of lilies are natives of the United States, 

 the best of which are : L. j^fhiladeljjhi- 

 cum, L. superhwm, L. canadense, L. 

 pardalinum, L. jfO'Tryii, L. californi- 

 cum, and the beautiful L. Washing- 

 tonianum. Among exotic species, but 

 well adapted for out-door culture, select 



