178 BULBS AKD TUBEROUS-BOOTED PLANTS. 



^Esop told the gardener of his master, Xanthus, 

 that "The earth is stepmother to those plants which 

 were incorporated into her soil, but a mother to those 

 which are her own free production." This may suggest 

 the reason why our own species are capable of with- 

 standing the severity of our winters, while those from 

 foreign countries are not. 



Whatever may be the cause of failure, we find, by 



our own experience and observation, that where Lilies 



\ are protected so that frost cannot reach them, they will 



1 invariably succeed, and thrive in proportion as the other 



jconditions of growth are more or less favorable ; while 



(those left unprotected, if in an exposed situation, are 



uite as sure to die. 



Let us state a single instance, in corroboration of 

 the facts as stated. A friend and neighbor had a pecu- 

 liar fondness for bulbs, Lilies in particular. Of these 

 his choice was the L. speciosum (lancifoliiim). He 

 planted, in early spring, in a bed four feet in diameter, 

 a dozen bulbs of the different varieties. They grew 

 moderately well, as they should in good soil, his being 

 kept covered with grass cut from the lawn. Soon after 

 the first frost he covered the bed, to the depth of six 

 inches, with coarse manure, extending over the grass to 

 double the size of the bed. The following seasons there 

 was an enormous growth ; some of the plants were nearly 

 six feet high, their stems being an inch or more in diam- 

 eter at the base, bearing from twenty to thirty flowers 

 each, of a size and substance rarely seen. This bed was 

 allowed to remain undisturbed for several years, the 

 plants keeping up their vigor of growth, and increasing 

 with the most wonderful rapidity ; in fact, when they 

 were removed the ground seemed all bulbs. 



The mulching, or the protecting of a bed of Lilies, 

 is a simple and inexpensive matter. The best and most 

 natural mulching we have ever used is a covering, say 



