before the ground is frozen. To secure this they 

 should be planted in September. Owing to the 

 dereliction of the nurseryman this could not be 

 done, and my friend feared that her coveted 

 planting of lilies would have to be abandoned. She 

 seemed so discouraged that I advised her to have 

 six inches of rotted stable manure spread over the 

 bed at once, to guard against a possible heavy 

 frost, and at the same time keep the soil there warm 

 during the chill early Autumn nights. This was 

 done, but the bulbs did not arrive until the third 

 week in October when I was again asked what to 

 do next. Was it too late to plant them? etc., etc. I 

 had to admit that it was rather late, but I insisted 

 it was not" too late," that is, if my directions 

 were carried out explicitly. They were — to remove 

 all the soil-warming manure, and have the bulbs 

 planted no deeper than four inches, using the sand 

 and sulphur when " setting '* them, and to make 

 certain that they were "well-firmed" in the soil. 

 Then to prevent them being injured by frost before 

 making the necessary three or four inches of Fall 

 growth, a six inch blanket of meadow hay was 

 spread over the surface of the bed and a row of 

 stakes was set all around it to keep the warm but 

 light blanket in place (the stakes were placed not 

 more than eight inches apart) and in addition a 

 few very light boughs were laid criss-cross on the 

 blanket to prevent it from being disturbed by 

 sudden winds. 



^ Her head-gardener was reluctant to see all this 

 done, being sulky and insistent that it was 



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