November 15, 18G4. 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



393 



wish to save their money, as most luxuries can be bought 

 on board by those who do not mind paying an increased 

 price. — W. C. 



LILIUM LANCIPOLIUM CULTURE. 



It is not very generally known that the period at which 

 Lilium lancifolium may be had in bloom, may be very 

 greatly lengthened, and this simply by a system in the time 

 at which different bulbs are to be started, the first quantity 

 being by a very gentle system of forcing hastened into flower 

 about the middle of July. 



To effect this, carefully remove from the bulbs all decayed 

 matter, old lifeless roots, &c, and set about potting them 

 in the first week of January. Where pots of fine specimens 

 are wanted choose 12-inch pots, giving them an efficient 

 drainage. For soil use an admixture of good turfy yellow 

 loam partially decomposed. I prefer that in which an abund- 

 ance of white sandy grit is found. This should be chopped 

 up into moderate-sized lumps, to be afterwards sifted to re- 

 move all the more dusty portions of the soil. The more 

 turfy portions only ought to be used. With this mix a few 

 lumps of charcoal, some well-decomposed leaf mould, adding 

 a dash of silver sand. Fill the pots to within 3 inches of 

 the top with these well mixed together, making the whole 

 tolerably firm. Into this firmly press the bulbs, taking 

 care not to bruise or otherwise injure the scales. Let the 

 tips of the upper scales upon the bulb appear through the 

 soil, placing the same firmly around them. This is very 

 essential to all fresh-planted bulbs, &c. The number I 

 generally place in a pot of the above size is from seven to 

 nine. It depends whether any of them are likely to produce 

 two stems upon the single bulb. 



Any who may not wish to have large specimen pots, or 

 may prefer to have them of a more portable size, cannot do 

 better than choose seven-inch pots, in which four or five 

 bulbs may be placed in a similar manner. 



These smaller pots will not need half the care and at- 

 tention that the larger ones do, as the same caution as to 

 watering, &o., need not be observed. The large mass at this 

 early season of the year getting so easily overladen with 

 moisture, will cause the soil, being without roots, to sour if 

 great care is not observed. 



Place the pots in a situation where they will receive a 

 moderate amount of light and heat; the temperature not 

 to be below that generally kept up in a greenhouse. As 

 I have before observed, care should be taken, especially at 

 this early season, in watering them. They will require none 

 until the plants have made a start, when a thorough good 

 soaking of tepid water will greatly benefit these. They 

 should now be removed into a temperature of at least 55°, 

 with light and air. When they have made a growth of 6 or 

 7 inches they can be removed to the more airy end of the 

 greenhouse, or to a pit, from which the frost is excluded. 



At the base of that portion of the growth which may be 

 above the soil, a quantity of strong healthy roots may be 

 observed ; firmly cover these with some pieces of turfy loam, 

 leaf mould, &c, sufficient to fill np the pot to within the 

 customary distance from the rim. With occasional sprink- 

 lings overhead, and as they advance in growth more liberal 

 root-waterings, they may, taking care to tie them when 

 necessary, remain in this situation until the period of their 

 flowering, which should be about the middle of July at the 

 latest. 



The next batch may be potted about the middle, or in the 

 end of February. These should be treated precisely like 

 the former, save that they will require no heat, but should 

 be placed in any sheltered position until they show signs of 

 .growth, when they should be removed into a light, airy 

 situation, where the frost cannot reach them, there to remain 

 until they require staking, and are showing for flower, which 

 will be about the end of August. 



The next in succession are to be grown entirely in the 

 open ground, where they will flower readily with the follow- 

 ing simple treatment. Pick carefully out of the old soil 

 every bulb. I dibble these out in the ground where they 

 are to stand, four or five in a patch, taking care to place 

 them some 5 or 6 inches deep. An American-bed I find 

 to be the most suitable for them, especially one of those 

 which for the want of better material is composed of an ad- 



mixture of heavy sandy loam. These small bulbs, some of 

 them scarcely more than a scale in size, perfect a growth 

 sufficient in one season to flower in the following one, and 

 thus I have annually in that spot a goodly bunch of these 

 blooming more or less efficiently according to the season, and 

 giving a succession of flowers from Jvdy until the frosts of 

 autumn visit us. 



These Lilies have the additional merit of being good flowers 

 for travelling long distances without losing either beauty 

 or fragrance. They should be taken off the main stalk with 

 a reasonable quantity of the flower-stalk, at from two to 

 four days before the period at which they would naturally 

 expand, and if desired to be sent any distance before ex- 

 panding, they only require to be placed where they will not 

 become crushed, wrapped up in paper. I forward them from 

 here each season by post to beyond Inverness. — W. Eabley, 

 Bigswell. 



ENTILLE HALL. 



(Concluded from page 376.) 



We now pass from the museum to the comparatively 

 open lawn, to which we have already referred, to notice the 

 singular mass of Limes, one being of the parvifolia or micro- 

 phylla kind, and the other the common Lime (the Tilia 

 europsa). Both kinds now come so close together as to 

 resemble almost one mass. The parvifolia seems to have 

 been three trees planted closely to each other, but now 

 appearing as one, and sweeping the ground with their 

 healthy branches. The common Lime had only been one 

 tree, and though lofty, the bole is not particularly large ; 

 but branches from that tree had touched the ground, layered, 

 themselves naturally, in the manner of the Banyan tree, 

 had a good fight for pre-eminence on the principle of the 

 law of the strongest, and now good-sized trees are rising, 

 with but very slender branch-like connections between the 

 old stems and the new ones, and the process has been 

 repeated, and even now the small outside branches that 

 sweep the ground are many of them beginning to take hold 

 of the soil. The circumference of the heads of these trees 

 is respectively 132 and 110 yards. We are a little in doubt 

 whether the latter figures are correct. A part of this fine 

 mass of Limes is seen in the accompanying engraving. 



Without attempting to describe the varieties of Hollies 

 and other evergreens in these grounds, we must content 

 ourselves with mentioning particularly three fine trees — the 

 first is a beautiful upright-growing deciduous Cypress, near 

 the mansion ; the second a splendid Chestnut (24), near the 

 east end of the seahorse pool; and the third is a very fine 

 plant of Picea nobilis, well planted on a lawn between that 

 pool and the museum walk. This massive plant, well worthy 

 of an engraving, is 34 feet in height, 66 feet in circumfer- 

 ence of branches, and 4 feet 10 inches in girth of stem. From 

 opposite the fine Chestnut fine views are obtained over the 

 pool, and across the rising ground of the park up to the 

 arched gates, &c. 



The seahorse pool (23) is one of those combinations of the 

 seemingly natural and the purely artistic, conjoined with 

 the mythological, that never fail to delight. The beauty of 

 the statuary (the heads of which appear in the engraving) 

 is enhanced by the softening influence of the mirror of 

 water, reflecting the shading of the evergreens and the 

 drooping Willows that fringe its banks. We have become so 

 dull in all that pertains to classic lore that we were unable 

 to read the history the figures were no doubt intended to 

 illustrate, so we just make a story for ourselves, which may 

 do until the true one is told. The central figure we conclude 

 to be Triton, the son and the trumpeter of Neptune, blow- 

 ing his shell horn to arouse the sleepy but beautiful Nereids 

 to come and take their morning gallopade, that will leave no 

 sound of hoof or footfall behind it. Striking as this pool is 

 when in repose, what shall we say of it when a water jet 

 rises to the height of 80 feet, when numerous jets play and 

 cross each other, and when amid the mist and the spray the 

 beautiful rainbows are ever forming and disappearing, now 

 aloft, now almost touching the water, chasing each other as 

 if some unseen fairyland, and not this earth, were their 

 destined home ? 



If we go a little southward from this pool to a higher 

 walk (25), we obtain one of the finest views within the 



