Chai'. XXXI.] LILACS OP THE PARIS GARDENS. 531 



simply plant the common Lilac in tubs at the proper season, and 

 place them in their living-rooms, close by their stoves, which 

 are never allowed to go out. The plants flower well, the flowers 

 being always perfectly white. The same result is obtained by 

 cutting off the flowering-branches at an early stage, placing their 

 extremities in a bottle of water, and keeping them in a forcing- 

 house or in a well-warmed room. 



It has been said that when the Persian Lilac is grown in a 

 forcing-house it will not yield colourless flowers like its con- 

 geners, but M. Lavallee has obtained identical results with this 

 species. He attributes the want of success hitherto to the fact 

 that this Lilac is of very rapid growth, and that a lower tempera- 

 ture, say from 60° to 64° Fahr., is sufficient to make it produce 

 colourless flowers, which would not resist a greater degree of heat. 

 These experiments have been repeated by several members of the 

 Society, who have endorsed the correctness of M. Lavallee's 

 conclusions. 



LiLAOS IN THE OPEN AiE. — About the first day of May the Lilacs 

 are in full beauty in many of the public gardens of Paris, and 

 form at that season the principal attraction. The bushes are 

 pruned closely for two reasons — to insure a strong bloom, and 

 to keep them about the same size every year. They are in lines, 

 as a rule, like soldiers, only more regular. With us this lovely 

 shrub is often left to perish and starve from overcrowding. It is 

 something even to train a common shrub ; for so much we have 

 to be grateful in Paris, where the State gardens are virtually in 

 the hands of architects, engineers, and other persons who know 

 little about gardening, and have no sympathy with right efibrts 

 therein. The true way to grow Lilacs is not that used in Paris. 

 One ought, perhaps, to apologise for wasting words about a subject 

 that apparently never has excited the least attention. The right 

 method would be to group Lilacs naturally on the Grass, or on 

 mounds or slopes, allowing each bush room enough for its full 

 development. It should not be starved above or below ground ; 

 it should not be tortured into anything like a broomstick and 

 balloon-head as in Paris, or contorted by neglect as with us. It 

 should be allowed to assume a natural form, and be pruned so that 

 form is never interfered with ; moderate thinning of the branches 

 to secure a vigorous bloom would be desirable. There are now so 



