140 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



bum roseum and rubrum. They are all 

 about identical in growth. They are 

 not forced for winter or spring, but 

 are very acceptable in July and Au- 

 gust, when we are often short of flow- 

 ers. With a covering of leaves over 

 the ground during winter, they are 

 quite hardy with us. 



We receive the bulbs (from Japan) 

 in late fall and winter, and they are 

 well packed, losing little of their 

 strength in the long journey. We used 

 to try these in cold-frames during win- 

 ter, but it was not a success, and now 

 we never fail by potting them in 7 

 and 8-inch pots, three bulbs in a pot. 

 Put them in dry loam a trifle below the 

 surface, but do not water them, and 

 place the pots beneath your coolest 

 bench, where there is the least drip. 

 If the soil is moderately moist the 

 bulbs will remain seven or eight weeks 

 without starting or making any 

 growth. When they do start and 

 have grown a few inches they must be 

 given the light and grown on, but 

 coolly. 



Any of the lilies, either of the longi- 

 florum or lancifolium, want little wa- 

 ter till they have made good roots, but 

 after starting they soon fill the pots 

 with roots, and from then on they 

 want an abundance of water. 



When the lancifolium lilies are in 

 flower, and before they are in flower, 

 they should be given the coolest house, 

 with all the ventilation possible. It is 

 midsummer when these lilies are in 

 flower, so if kept cool and shaded the 

 plants will be stronger, the flowsrs 

 larger and they will last longer. Out of 

 doors in a sheltered and shady place 

 will do for the lancifolium type very 

 well for the last month. 



These lilies are much troubled with 

 green fly and need fumigating occa- 

 sionally. They have a most delightful 

 odor, agreeable to all. 



The bulbs' of Lilium lancifolium 

 need not be thrown away. They are 

 worth planting out in some good soil 

 and will grow for years. We have also 

 forced them the second year with good 

 success. If you intend to do this, don't 

 throw the bulbs under the bench as 

 soon as the flower is cut, but stand 

 them out of doors and keep watered 

 till the foliage is gone and the stems 

 are dry, when they can be cut off and 

 the pots stored under a very cool 

 bench during winter. In February 

 shake them out and repot and treat as 

 those first imported. If bulbs are not 

 received till March, then they can be 

 given a bench at once, but little water 

 till they start. 



Lilium auratum, most gorgeous of 

 all the family, has flowers sometimes 

 a foot across, with broad bands of yel- 

 low and beautifully spotted, which 

 gave it the name of "the golden rayed 

 lily of Japan." It grows from two to 

 three feet and strong, healthy bulbs 

 frequently bear fifteen to twenty flow- 

 ers. We can very well remember the 

 introduction of this magnificent lily 

 and the sensation it created when first 

 flowered. It has long, narrow leaves. 

 I have never seen it here out of doors 

 where it has been treated as a hardy 



lily, but with good care and in well 

 drained soil it may be quite hardy, as 

 large masses of it are perfectly hardy 

 in Scotland; and plantings of several 

 hundred bulbs are a rich sight. We 

 treat it precisely as we do the lanci- 

 folium section. It has a powerful 

 odor, too much for most people, and 

 this forbids its use as a decorative 

 plant or as a cut flower in designs. Un- 

 fortunately many imported bulbs make 

 but a poor growth. 



Before the splendid forcing qualities 

 of the L. Harrisii were known, and 

 when the growing of the bulbs in Ber- 

 muda was not an industry as it now is, 

 we used to grow and force the beauti- 

 ful Lilium candidum. Its delightful, 

 pure pearl white spikes were in great 

 demand for cutting, as well as for 

 Easter plants. It would be useless to 

 describe our manner of forcing (al- 

 though it differed little from that of 

 the longiflorum), because it is entire- 

 ly superseded. It should be always 

 grown wherever you have ground to 

 grow it. It does well in rather a 

 heavy soil and should not be disturbed 

 for several years. Its beautiful flowers 

 are always in demand when in season, 

 with us end of June and July. 



There are no other lilies grown in 

 pots for commercial use. Many spe- 

 cies doubtless could be, but would not 

 be profitable. Beds of L. longiflorum 

 and candidum should be on every flor- 

 ist's place. And if you have the room 

 many other species^ are beautiful 

 plants for the border. The principal 

 thing to observe with the lilies in the 

 ground in winter is that it is a well 

 drained soil. A good loam overlying 

 a gravel would be perfection, but any 

 soil that is drained will do. In the 

 absence of peat, which many like, dig 

 in a few inches of very rotten manure 

 or rotten leaf-mould from the woods, 

 and plant the bulbs when perfectly 

 dormant. August is a good month. 

 Plant six inches deep. 



In addition to the longiflorum and 

 lancifolium type, these will be found 

 perfectly hardy: 



L. canadense, orange, finely spotted, 

 two to three feet. 



L. croceum, yellow, four to five feet. 



L. excelsum or testaceum, yellow 

 tinged with red, four to five feet. 



L. Hansonii, reddish orange, three to 

 four feet. 



L. Humboldti, orange, very fine, four 

 to five feet. 



L. paradalinum, orange with purple 

 spots, five to six feet; of this there are 

 several fine varieties. 



L. pomponium, bright red, two to 

 three feet. 



L. rubescens, or Washingtonianum, 

 white tinged with purple, four to five 

 feet. 



L. superbum, orange red, spotted, 

 four to five feet. 



L. tenuifolium, scarlet, dwarf and 

 slender, but handsome, one foot. 



L. Thunbergianum, red, two to three 

 feet. 



L. tigrinum, the well known tiger 

 lily, deep orange, purple spots, very 

 hardy, two to three feet. 



And several others, both species and 

 varieties. 



LILY OF THE VALLEY (CONVAL- 

 LARIA MAJALIS). 



We can remember pots of lily of the 

 valley being grown in our green- 

 houses in March and April many 

 years ago. These pots (a 5 or 6-inch) 

 contained a solid mass of roots and 

 were not disturbed or shifted for sev- 

 eral years. After flowering they were 

 stood outside and kept watered till 

 fall, when they were plunged in coal 

 ashes and a few inches of the same 

 material thrown over them. This was 

 growing them in a natural way, and 

 a very great addition they were to the 

 attractiveness of the conservatory. As 

 a pot plant they are of little consid- 

 eration. Within twenty-five years the 

 flower must now be supplied the year 

 around. 



When first lily of the valley was 

 produced in the summer and fall 

 months it commanded a most lucra- 

 tive price, but nowadays at the close 

 margin at which it is sold you must 

 be successful or you had far better not 

 attempt it; rather leave the growing 

 to the specialist and buy your flowers 

 from the grower or commission man. 



A few years ago in the columns of 

 the "American Florist" appeared sev- 

 eral articles from the pen of Mr. R. 

 Simpson, who can not only write 

 plainly and explicitly convey his 

 knowledge to us, but has been one of 

 the largest and most successful grow- 

 ers of this dainty little flower, and 

 though not copying him verbatim I 

 acknowledge to him many of the im- 

 portant details on growing now given 

 in this article, and particularly the 

 care of the pips in cold storage, for it 

 must be remembered that while the 

 winter is the natural cold storage for 

 the pips that give us the flowers from 

 middle of January to possibly end of 

 May, the other seven or eight months 

 we must depend on those whose 

 growth has been arrested by cold 

 storage. 



v I never did believe that to put the 

 original cases into cold storage and 

 expect them to come out in seven or 

 eight months and give good results 

 was at all the reasonable or proper 

 plan. When first received, which is 

 usually in November, unpack at once. 

 Large growers place them in trenches 

 in cold-frames and between each row 

 of trenches put some sandy soil or 

 finely sifted coal ashes, and over the 

 tops of the pips two inches of the 

 same material. Small growers will 

 find boxes holding conveniently the 

 quantity they want to force weekly or 

 bi-weekly more convenient than the 

 first plan, because you can easily 

 bring in the box containing just the 

 quantity you want. When putting 

 them outside the smallest and weak- 

 est pips should be put by themselves 

 and labeled and reserved for the latest 

 spring forcing, but with those that 

 are to go into cold storage it is just 

 the reverse, and those which are to 



