414 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 293. 



plant them and space them out properly, so as to give the 

 Lilies a fair share of light and air. Replanting, by the way, 

 is better than pruning, as each time replanting takes place 

 a number of fine shrubs are obtained, which are available 

 for new plantations. At the same time the Lilies — at any 

 rate, the great majority of them — pay for being lifted and 

 replanted, the smaller bulbs being retained and placed in 

 nursery-beds to grow on. Lilium auratum is one which 

 prefers being let alone, and, given a well-drained peat bed, 

 should not, if possible, be disturbed. L. auratum, by the 

 way, being a taller grower than most of its congeners, we 

 grow in beds of taller Rhododendrons than those which 

 find a place in the "American Garden," and these can, 

 from time to time, be pruned in so as to allow the Lilies light 

 and breathing-space. In the beds of Rhododendron — 

 principally hybrids of R. Ponticum — along the Broad Walk 

 we have had hundreds of stems of L. auratum six feet high 

 (many have attained eight feet or more), with fifteen to 

 twenty, or even more, perfect flowers; this year, however, 

 owing to the excessive drought, few stems have attained 

 the dimensions or have produced the number of flowers 

 just mentioned. L. longiflorum does best with us in peat 

 and must be replanted every second or third year, or there 

 would be a falling off in the size and number of the flowers ; 

 the fact is, the bulbs increase so fast that they crowd each 

 other out and impoverish the ground — the small ones are 

 planted at once in other beds or are grown on in nursery- 

 beds for stock. L. speciosum and its numerous varieties 

 increase so rapidly that they quite exhaust the ground ; re- 

 planting is necessary every second, or third year at the 

 outside. Fresh peat should be added and only some of the 

 large bulbs replaced ; the others may be at once utilized for 

 forming new plantations. 



Raising from Seeds. — The bulbs of some Lilies, after 

 flowering well for several seasons, disappear apparently 

 without cause, and the betterand the more freely have they 

 grown and flowered the more apt are they to disappoint 

 their possessors. It seems probable that the bulbs of these 

 kinds are in reality always rather short-lived. An excellent 

 way to keep up a stock of young, vigorous bulbs is to 

 make a sowing every year. If treated properly, seedlings 

 arrive at the flowering stage very quickly. The seeds should 

 be sown as soon as ripe — if possible, in prepared beds (not in 

 pots or pans) under glass. A cold frame will do well, but re- 

 sults are more speedily attained if seeds are sown in a bed 

 in a slightly heated greenhouse. For instance, seeds of 

 Lilium longiflorum, var. Formosanum, a beautiful variety 

 from Formosa, developed rapidly, some seedlings flower- 

 ing in little more than a year from time of sowing. The 

 bulbs in that time had attained about the size of small 

 hazel-nuts ; last year they were planted in the open 

 ground, and during the past summer have flowered pro- 

 fusely. 



Scales and Bulbils. — The former method of propagation 

 — when seeds are not to be had — is one which allows the 

 stock of a given kind to be rapidly increased. A good-sized 

 bulb will furnish a large number of scales, each of which 

 may develop into a good bulb in two or three years. The 

 scales should be planted in silver sand— over-prepared soil 

 — and kept in a frame or greenhouse until young plants 

 have developed, when they are better planted out in the 

 open ground. The third year from scales we have had 

 L. Hansom five feet high, bearing from nine to twelve flow- 

 ers on a stem. Bulbils, as of the Tiger-lily (L. tigrinum) 

 and L. sulphureum, furnish an easy way of propagation ; the 

 former will flower the second year from the bulbil, all that 

 is necessary with the Tiger-lily being to sow the bulbils 

 when ripe in the open ground and leave them to their fate. 

 A slight covering of Fern-leaves, etc., during winter is, 

 however, beneficial. With L. sulphureum — owing to its 

 being much more uncommon — we act differently, planting 

 the bulbils in pans or beds under glass. The first year 

 these will get as large as small hazel-nuts — after this they 

 are better planted outside ; some planted out this spring in 

 an Azalea bed, fully six inches deep, have grown freely 



this past summer, producing numbers of bulbils, which, in 

 their turn, will be carefully treated as above described. 

 They will, doubtless, flower well next year. 



Lilies which Grow Best in Loam. — The Martagon Lily, 

 L. Martagon, and its varieties, album and Dalmaticum, 

 will not grow in peat at Kew, but do well in loam. The 

 Tiger Lily, L. tigrinum, and its varieties, although they will 

 thrive in peat, do well in almost any garden-soil. The 

 Pyrenean, or Yellow Martagon, as it is sometimes called, 

 requires loam ; if chalky in character so much the better. 

 L. testaceum and L. candidum like good loamy soil. L. 

 pardalinum grows very freely in a damp loam ; the third 

 year we have had it seven feet high, with thirty flowers on 

 a stem ; when this species is transplanted, unless clumps 

 are moved with masses of soil attached to their roots, it 

 is never so fine the succeeding year ; one must wait until it 

 is thoroughly established before the best results are obtained. 

 L. Hansoni will grow well even in a hot dry spot. The 

 Scarlet Martagon, or Scarlet Turk's-cap, L. Chalcedonicum, 

 and its varieties, like a moist, but well-drained, good strong 

 loam ; this is not an easy species to manage, but where it 

 does succeed it is one of the most beautiful of hardy Lilies. 

 L. croceum, the Orange Lily, does better in loam on a damp 

 subsoil than in a bed, no matter how well prepared, on a 

 dry gravelly or sandy subsoil ; it is a beautiful plant, and 

 by no means common in gardens. L. Davuricum and the 

 numerous forms of the garden L. umbellatum thrive ad- 

 mirably in almost any garden-soil ; among dwarf-growing 

 shrubs, as recommended at the commencement of these 

 notes, the bulbs increase in size and number to such an 

 extent that, although planted originally six or eight inches 

 below the surface, in about three years they will almost 

 lift themselves out of the ground. The Chinese L. Henryi 

 grows in both peat and loam ; in peat, two years after 

 planting, the stems measured five feet in height, and 

 bore as many as nineteen flowers ; in loam, however, 

 the second year after planting, the stems had attained a 

 height of six or seven feet, and some bore upward of thirty 

 flowers. L. candidum, as far as Kew is concerned, is one 

 of the most refractory of Lilies ; imported bulbs flower 

 well the first season, but afterward, as a rule, fungal dis- 

 ease attacks stem and leaves, and both dry up and wither 

 before the flowers open. L. longiflorum will grow well 

 either in loam or peat, and L. Sovitsianum likes loam with 

 a clay bottom. 



Lilies which do Best in Peat. — First and foremost is the 

 golden-rayed Lily of Japan, L. auratum, which has already 

 been mentioned. L. superbum, a noble species, with which, 

 doubtless, your American readers are familiar in a wild 

 state, does best in peat with us ; the second and third year 

 after planting it has reached seven feet in height and up- 

 ward, bearing from twenty to thirty flowers on a stem. 

 Some seasons many of the bulbs will remain perfectly dor- 

 mant, but the following season they will start again. L. 

 Grayi, from Roan Mountain, does not, as far as my per- 

 sonal observation and inquiries on the spot go to prove, 

 ever attain anything like the proportions in a wild state that 

 it does at Kew. We have had our bulbs since 1891 ; they 

 were planted early in that year in a bed of Azalea amoena, 

 and most of the stems bore but one flower; the following 

 year the flowers numbered from two to five on a stem ; the 

 present season the stems have grown five feet high and 

 borne from five to twelve flowers each. The little Japa- 

 nese L. concolor (bright scarlet) and its variety, Coridion 

 (bright yellow), the second year after planting among 

 Dwarf Azaleas have grown two feet high and borne from 

 four to six flowers on a stem. L. speciosum and its varie- 

 ties like peat, but soon deteriorate unless replanted and the 

 smaller bulbs removed ; with this species not more than 

 two years should elapse without replanting. If arranged 

 in clumps among low shrubs it is easy to move the clumps 

 a foot or two, and so obtain fresh soil for the hungry roots 

 to work in. The second year after planting we have 

 measured L. speciosum, and found the stems to be five 

 feet high, bearing from twelve to twenty flowers. L. Cana- 



