no GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



forking up the top soil, and adding some old potting material. In March 

 I counted, on a clump two feet across, sixty to seventy flowers, either 

 open or opening, and many more to follow. It has often puzzled me why 

 gardeners who need a lot of cut flowers do not grow it, considering the 

 quantity of lovely flowers to be had from good plants." Occasionally 

 the bulbs are attacked by a fungus, which may be brought into the 

 garden from stock affected with it. When this Iris has established 

 itself in a garden, it is wise to ascertain the condition of any fresh bulbs 

 introduced, and the place whence they came. 



Leucojum (Snowftake). Graceful plants, bearing drooping, white 

 bells. L. vernum blooms in the spring and grows to a height of six 

 inches. L. astivum flowers later and often exceeds two feet in height. 

 It is excellent for naturalising in the wild garden or in the grass by water. 



Lilies. Of the numerous Lilies many will be found to flower well in 

 ordinary garden soil. The following form a good selection : Bulbi- 

 ferum, two feet, orange-red ; candidum (Madonna Lily), get the best 

 form ; chalcedonicum (Scarlet Turk's Cap), three feet ; Croceum, six feet, 

 orange ; davuricum, two feet, orange-red, black-spotted ; excelsum or 

 testaceum, five feet, buff ; giganteum, ten feet, ivory-white ; Henryi, six 

 feet, orange-yellow ; Humboldti, five feet, apricot, spotted-maroon ; 

 Martagon, three to five feet, white, purple, and purple-black ; pyrenaicum, 

 three feet, yellow, spotted-black, red anthers ; szovitzianum, five feet, 

 pale yellow, sometimes dotted with minute black spots ; thunbergianum, 

 eighteen inches, yellow to red, sometimes spotted ; tigrinum, four to six 

 feet, orange-red, purple-spotted. Lilies should be planted as soon as 

 the flower-stems die down, and should have four inches of soil above the 

 bulb, which is best surrounded by sand. Of those named in the fore- 

 going list, L. giganteum requires a deep rich bed in decayed vegetable 

 matter ; the others will generally succeed in good, porous garden soil. 

 Lilies should be grown in a sheltered spot, and partial shade is beneficial 

 for all except the Madonna Lily, which likes sun. In peat the Swamp 

 Lilies, L. canadense, paradalinum, and superbum can be grown. They 

 are exceedingly graceful and brightly coloured. Other handsome Lilies 

 are L. auratum, speciosum, and longiflorum, but, as these have a habit of 

 dying out after the first year or so in many gardens, an annual purchase 

 is often requisite to maintain a display. They should, however, be tried, 

 as they sometimes become established. There are many other beautiful 

 Lilies besides the twenty here enumerated, but they are less suited to 

 general cultivation than those already named. In large gardens the 

 bulbs are planted amongst shrubs with excellent effect. The shrubs 

 protect the rising Lily stems in spring from frost, and the association of 

 the two is quite happy. 



It will interest Lily growers to read the remarks made by Mr. Wallace 

 of Colchester, a well-known Lily specialist, in a paper published in the 

 Royal Horticultural Society's Journal: "It is difficult to lay down 

 hard and fast rules as to the proper positions to plant Lilies, as the same 

 variety may be seen flourishing equally well under totally different con- 

 ditions, but I would recommend intending planters to avoid positions 



