58 THE LITTLE GARDEN 



are rounding in effect; these bulbous tlungs cut through such 

 masses, raise them in an effective way. And when standing apart, 

 too, give a distinct pleasure through their difference in lines. 



Let us take the lily first, one of the greatest of all garden 

 favorites. Probably the Madonna lily is the best beloved of this 

 group. But many gardeners have found, to their sorrow, that 

 this is a fickle and uncertain lily. There are no all-embracing 

 rules for its success; but there is one constantly reiterated by 

 Mr. E. H.Wilson, the great explorer, which should be ever before 

 us: no maniu-e near a lily; never any manure even to approach 

 its bulb. Good drainage; a rich (made rich a year or too before 

 setting the bulb), weU-tiUed soil, preferably a good loam; the 

 bulb buried full deep, according to seed-list instruction; a hand- 

 ful of sand for it to lie upon, and, as an extra precaution, the lily 

 bulb to be partly on its side, that water may not stay in its upper 

 end of crown — these are the standard instructions for the plac- 

 ing and planting of lilies. And except for tiny bulbs, such as St. 

 Bruno's lily {Anthericum liliastrum), which is not a lily at all, 

 and the beautiful little scarlet Lilium tenuifolium, they should be 

 planted eight inches apart in groups. 



As for the best varieties, Lilium candidum, the Madonna Lily, 

 is fixed in our affections; in our own garden, in a weU-drained 

 position, it multiplies rapidly ; in a wetter one, it often disappears. 

 Lilium regale is, I truly think, the most satisfactory, and, take 

 it all in all, the finest of all the lilies for our northern cHmate. 

 No flower is finer, no stalk more graceful, no fragrance sweeter. 

 It blooms with us, in Michigan, in early August, increases rapidly 

 when once established, and is a glorious introduction of Mr. Wil- 

 son's from Western China. A very warm, wet winter will cause 

 any lily bulb to rot and disappear. Wet is just as much an enemy 

 of the lily bulb as manure — that is, too much wet; some moisture 

 it needs. In fact, in very dry soils and climates, a few stones are 



