September 7, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL Of HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



203 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 

 ol 



Day 

 of 



SEPTEMBEK 7—13, 1876. 



Average 

 Temperature near 



Sun 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 



Moon 

 Seta. 



Moon's 



Clock 

 before 



Day 

 of 



Month 



Week. 





London. 













Sun. 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



Days. 



m. s. 





7 



Th 



Stamford Show. Dundee International Show opens. 



70.3 



47.5 



58.9 



5 24 



6 81 



7 28 



9 85 



19 



2 16 



251 



8 



F 





69.4 



48 



58.7 



5 26 



6 29 



7 44 



10 58 



20 



2 87 



252 



9 



a 



Dundee Show closes. 



69.1 



48.1 



58.6 



5 28 



6 26 



8 9 



0a 23 



21 



2 57 



253 



10 



Sdh 



13 S0ND4V AFTER TRINITY. 



69.7 



45.5 



57.6 



5 29 



6 24 



8 46 1 1 48 



22 



8 18 



254 



11 



M 



Oxford Show. 



68.7 



47.0 



57.8 



5 31 



6 22 



9 41 8 3 



( 



8 9 



255 



12 



To 



Glasgow Show. 



69.1 



44.8 



57.0 



5 32 



6 20 



10 55 4 1 



24 



4 



256 



18 



W 





68.4 



45.7 



57.0 



5 34 



6 17 



morn, j 4 42 



25 



4 21 



257 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 69.8'; and its night temperature 



46.6°. 









LILIUM AURATUM. 



HE continued importation of this bulb is 

 surprising. The sale of several thousands 

 in one day by Mr. Stevens has for many 

 years past been an ordinary occurrence. 

 By this time no moderate-sized garden ought 

 to lack them. But what is the fact ? They 

 are still unknown, except in the gardens of 

 the few. Where, then, are the bulbs ? Why, 

 dead. 



I have been induced to write a few lines 

 on the subject from reading in a contemporary that at 

 Cheshunt, where this Lily is cultivated largely, the bulbs 

 are taken up every autumn to save them from the winter 

 rains, which rot them. If this be the secret of success it 

 is easily obtained ; but most cultivators think that all 

 Lilies are impatient of any disturbance at their roots. 



When L. auratum was first imported the price was so 

 high that no one dared venture the bulbs in the open 

 ground. But they did not thrive in pots, and it is now 

 held that potting is a mistake. I did once see a magni- 

 ficent potted plant. It had been repotted year by year 

 into larger sizes without the slightest disturbance of the 

 ball, and was growing in a very large pot in a greenhouse 

 with a north aspect, and threw up nearly sixty stems. 



The recommendation now given is to plant in a peat 

 bed among Rhododendrons, and leave the bulbs alone. 

 But everybody does not live at Bagshot, and peat is to 

 most a costly article. 



The question then, which I propose rather than answer, 

 is, What are gardeners to do whose stock of peat is 

 limited ? and we shall better approach the subject if we 

 can discover what are the causes of the bulb dying-off 

 when away from the Rhododendrons. I assume that it 

 is carefully planted — that is, that a hole has been dug 

 out filled with a mixture of peat, loam, sand, and stones 

 (or broken bricks), and the bulb so placed as to have its 

 top 6 inches below the surface. I like a little pure sand 

 just round and below the bulb. 



In the autumn of 1874 I bought a dozen of the finest 

 imported bulbs, and dividing them into three parcels 

 planted them out, after having cut away every speck of 

 decay. The garden lies high and dry on gravel. All the 

 bulbs came up well in the spring. Their final fate was as 

 follows. No. 1, planted on an open sunny border, turned 

 purple just before flowering, and every bulb was found 

 rotten. No. 2 was in front of a south-east wall, but 

 partially shaded by a row of espaliers before it. The 

 spot was selected because Lilium bulbiferum thrives there 

 remarkably well. Here L. auratum grew well, one bulb 

 only perishing. This year the remainder grew strongly, 

 but after showing flower all have died but one. No. 3 

 was in a Rose bed, the soil of which was made in great 

 part of loam. The situation is exposed. There is shade 

 from the Roses, but no great amount. Here in 1875 were 

 capital flowers, and no loss. In 1876 still free growth, still 

 larger flowers, but one plant fall of flower buds turned 

 purple, and is gone. All three clumps have had artificial 



No. KG -Vol. XXXI., Kew Semes. 



watering just the same as other plants which were near 

 them. No. 3 had the advantage of the more copious 

 supplies given to the Roses, with liquid manure besides. 



It would seem from the above that, on dry soils at 

 least, winter damp and cold do no injury, nor do spring 

 frosts, for this spring was a trying one. If so, we are led 

 to look to the sun and drought as the sources of our ill 

 success. But it is difficult to imagine that the direct rays 

 of the sun can penetrate 6 inches into the soil and there 

 do harm, or is it the effect of the sun upon the foliage ? 

 If the sun be in any way the destroyer, the cure is easy 

 enough — plant in the shade. But then comes the ques- 

 tion whether in damp gardens the bulbs will stand the 

 winter there. If the rays of the sun do no harm, and it 

 is only a question of summer drought, then careful water- 

 ing is the cure. 



L hope this letter may induce others to give their 

 experience, and perhaps it may meet the eye of some 

 one who has seen this Lily in its native land, and can 

 tell us what are its conditions in a wild state. It is a 

 gorgeous plant, well worth some trouble ; but to my taste 

 L. longiflorum, L. eximium, and L. speciosum rubrura 

 are more elegant and more delicately perfumed. — G. S. 



[Our correspondent alludes to a matter of considerable 

 importance, for L. auratum cannot be seen in all its 

 beauty except when growing in the open ground. In the 

 garden of Mr. Mcintosh at Duneevan it grows in wild 

 luxuriance, and the bulbs are not removed from the 

 ground in winter. Last year a plant in that garden at- 

 tained a height of 11 feet ; and this year, although the 

 summer has been so dry, the same bulb has thrown up a 

 spike 10 feet 6 inches in height. In the same garden this 

 year one clump, the offspring of three bulbs, has produced 

 170 flowers. The soil in which these Liliums thrive in 

 such a remarkable manner is sandy loam having an ad- 

 mixture of peat, the subsoil being sand. They are grow- 

 ing among Rhododendrons, and are watered copiously. 

 Scarcely any bulbs perish during the winter, and the 

 plants are seldom injured by spring frosts. Partial shade 

 and liberal supplies of water are regarded as the main 

 elements of success in the case of these remarkable 

 Lihums, and the experience of " G. S." confirms the 

 importance of these requisites. We shall be glad to hear 

 of the successes or failures of others in their attempts to 

 establish Lilium auratum as a garden flower. — Eds.] 



GRAFTING VINES— PUTTING ON GRAPES. 



Having had considerable difficulty in obtaining fruit 

 from a large and luxuriant Black Hamburgh Vine I 

 carried out a suggestion which was some time ago made 

 in your pages, and I have succeeded in placing on the 

 hitherto profitless Vine some satisfactory bunches of 

 Grapes. " Placing on " the bunches is a somewhat un- 

 usual term to use in reference to Vine culture, but it is 

 literally true ; for the Vine of itself showed no bunches 

 for fruit, yet by artificial aid became the foster parent of 

 an excellent crop, which was (in embryo) placed on it 

 during the spring of the same year. The Vine was an 



No. 1458.— Vou LVI.. Ol.o Sekbn 



