290 



CASSELI/S POPULAE GAEDENING. 



country, though it needs liheral culture to bring it 

 up to the high standard of imported clumps. With 

 this and full exposure to sunshine during its growth, 

 this variety grown in England is almost equal to 

 imported crowns, and so enormous is the demand for 

 Lily of the Valley for pot-culture and early forcing, 

 that its culture for this purpose has now grown 

 into a special and profitable trade in England, as it has 

 long been on the Continent ; and perhaps, looking at it 

 in this hght, there is more money in the Lily of the 

 Valley than in any other plant in our gardens or 

 woods. This and other points will be more fully 

 adverted to under the head of Flower Forcing. We 

 have only or chiefly to do with its merits as a com- 

 mon garden plant here. The common variety, with 

 narrower leaves, and smaller, more slender flower- 

 stems, is the one most common in gardens, and 

 gets naturalised in many woods and shrubberies. 

 Whilst far from asserting that this should be 

 superseded by the other and larger kind, it would 

 be most desirable to add the latter to the former. 

 The double variety, C. majalis florepleno, seems a 

 Valley Lily half spoilt and robbed of much of its 

 elegance and grace. The same remark is even more 

 applicable to the red variety, C. m. rubrum. The 

 Valley LUy is one of those cases in which the 

 colour, or rather want of it, is one of the essentials 

 of the flower, and hence a red Valley Lily is robbed 

 of full half its charm. The variegated-leaved 

 variety, however, is worth growing, as its handsome 

 foliage, striped or blotched with gold, enables it, 

 where it does well, to rank high as a variegated 

 plant. This sort, which is rather rare, seems a 

 sport from the larger-leaved and flowered strain of 

 VaUey Lilies known as major. 



The LUy of the Valley is by no means particular 

 about soil, and may be said almost to thrive equally 

 well in sunshine and in shadow, though the latter 

 is mostly selected for it. But it does best in deep, 

 rather rich loam, or soils rich in humus, such as 

 tjiose formed by the decomposition of leaves in old 

 woods, or by incessant manurial dressings as in old 

 kitchen gardens. At no season of its growth should 

 it be allowed to suffer for lack of water. An 

 annual top-dressing over the crowns in the early 

 autumn is also most useful, and as the running roots 

 run fast and far, and break up into stems and 

 flower-shoots almost at every joint, the plants soon 

 run into a perfect thicket in which they smother 

 each other, and should therefore be often lifted and 

 divided, only however operatiiig upon a portion at 

 one time. In this way a good stock will always be 

 had of the best quality. Not a few never think of 

 interfering with their Valley Lilies, and simply 

 leave them to take care of themselves. This, in so far 

 fis their mere living and holding their own against 



all rivals, they are well able to do. But if fine 

 foliage and good flowers are desired, liberal culture 

 is needful to obtain them. It is true any part of the 

 garden may grow Valley Lilies, but no portion of it 

 can be too good to grow them to the highest perfection. 

 A few patches or clumps should always be grown 

 near the dwelling-house, so that its fragrance may 

 be mixed with the odours of Violets, Roses, Sweet- 

 briars, Gillyflowers, Mignonette, and Jasmine, in 

 filling the house with sweetness. A few clumps 

 lifted any time from December to March, and placed 

 in a sunny window, will anticipate the natural 

 season of blooming by a month or six weeks, or even 

 two months. And no plant can bring into the 

 house more of fragrance or of sentiment, than a 

 few pots or boxes of Valley Lilies in the window. 



Solomon's Seal [Polygonatum). — This is another 

 small order of the great family of Lilyworts, and 

 somewhat resembles a huge Valley Lily, rising 

 in the different species from a foot to a yard in 

 height. The flower-stem is bent much in the same 

 way, but the leaves are arranged on each side of it, 

 and the white bell-hke flowers droop from the under 

 side. These are, however, much larger and less 

 white than in the Valley Lilies, and have little scent, 

 though one variety is fragrant. The name is said to 

 be derived from the many-jointed character of the 

 stem [poly, many; gonu, joint or knee). The English 

 name is derived from the peculiar knots on the roots of 

 some of the species, such as F. officinale, which when 

 cut across have a striking appearance that has been- 

 fancifully compared to the impress of the seal of 

 Solomon. Possibly this peculiarity might be the 

 more readily revealed from the fact that the 

 roots were often dug up, cut into sections, and 

 applied to fresh wounds or bruises as an antidote to 

 pain and to pre\'ent discolouration. Boys at school 

 in the olden times, however ignorant of most plants, 

 nearly all knew Solomon's Seal, and many were the 

 roots dug up, sliced, and used after their pugiUstio 

 encounters. Hence possibly, to some extent, the 

 immense popularitj' of this plant, which, however, 

 deserves a place in every garden for its stateliness 

 and beauty, independent of its fancied healing 

 merits, or the hieroglyphics supposed to be half con- 

 cealed, half revealed, in a cross-section of the swollen 

 portions of its curious roots. The plant flowers in 

 May and June, and is among the most showy 

 of aU the plants in the mixed bed or herbaceous 

 border while they last in flower. It may also be 

 lifted and gently forced into flower at almost any 

 season after November ; or a few placed in the 

 window, as advised for Valley Lilies, wiU flower 

 well, and prove highly ornamental in such positions. 

 Solomon's Seal is also well adapted for cutting, and 



