LILT. 



183 



and you will get an abundance of beautiful Lilies. Make 

 a light soil rich, and carefully protect from the burn- 

 ing sun, — the soil by a proper mulch, and the flowers by 

 a suitable screen, — and the same results will follow. 



How To Plant. — The next consideration of im- 

 portance is, how to plant, and upon this much depends. 

 It is a part of the work but little understood, conse- 

 quently most generally neglected. To prepare a proper 

 home for the Lily, the soil should be thrown out to the 

 depth of two feet ; at the bottom there should be, at 

 least, six inches in depth of well rotted manure, that 

 from the cow stable being preferable. The manure 

 should be thoroughly packed down, and upon it put 

 twelve inches of well rotted sod, or good garden soil, 

 then one inch of clean sand. Upon this bed place the 

 bulbs, and cover them with clean sand, then fill up with 

 the same kind of soil as is below the bulbs, rotted sod 

 being preferable ; no manure should ever come in con- 

 tact with the bulbs, as it only tends to decay rather 

 than to strengthen them. The mission of the bulb is to 

 sustain the plant until there is root and leaf development 

 sufficient to carry on the work. The bulb is simply a 

 storehouse of food laid up by the plant this year, for the 

 commencement of its labors the next. The plant derives 

 its sustenance far away from the bulb, and will increase 

 in size and strength in proportion to the amount of food 

 in store for it, until it has reached its maximum growth. 

 If a good, strong, healthy bulb is planted in a good rich 

 soil, a correspondingly strong plant will be the result ; 

 which, in its turn, will make a number of strong bulbs 

 for the perpetuation of the species. It is quite as impor- 

 tant to have the soil above the bulb as rich as it is below, 

 as most of the species feed near the surface, through 

 their thousands of roots thrown out from the stem just 

 above the bulb. The soil should be well drained. 



The size and number of the bulbs formed this year 

 will depend upon the plants' resources. If liberal depos- 



