400 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cold aspect, but partly also to the fact that the beds in which they are - 

 grown are too full and the soil is probably exhausted. With new bulbs 

 and a total change of position I could probably succeed as well as 

 formerly ; and the same remark applies to L. tigrinnm, a Lily which 

 formerly flourished and seeded about here, but which also seems to be> 

 dying out. This is a very late year, but on the day on which I write 

 (April 7) neither of these Lilies has attempted to come through the 

 ground, and I think it highly probable that they are all dead. L. cx~ 

 cehinn (or tcstacenm) is an excellent Lily in every way, distinct in colour 

 and easy to grow, but this, too, repays good culture, which at present it 

 does not get here. (Fig. 199.) 



The finest and most vigorous Lily I have at present is L. Henryi 

 (the orange specioswu, as it is sometime called, though I suppose its 

 botanical affinities are nearer L. tigrinum). I think this is the best 

 investment in the way of a Lily I ever made. I bought it four years 

 ago, and this year I see it is throwing up five blooming spikes. I know no 

 Lily worth having with a constitution like this. (Fig. IHO.) L. pardalinum 

 maintains a doubtful existence. I do not expect to see it come up this 

 year. I have made special beds for this, and have had it in bloom, but 

 I attribute its tendency to fail to the want of sufficient moisture during 

 the summer. L. canadense is an absolute failure, and so is L. siqjtt'bumy, 

 both in peat and in an artificial bog. In the latter position the lime in 

 the water is probably fatal to it. It is remarkable that L. PaiTyi, which 

 has by no means a reputation for being easy to cultivate, has proved 

 perhaps the most successful of any of the American Lilies with me. Others,, 

 such as L. Hinnbuldti and L. Washiugtonianinn, I have found hopeless,, 

 though both are extremely desirable. Of the former there is a new 

 variety called * magnificum' which, according to Mr. Carl Purdy, who 

 introduced it, is not only finer but more reliable in bloom, and possibly 

 easier to cultivate. 



L. spcciosum is not hardy here if left out, while the auratum Lily 

 (and all its varieties) is, of course, no use beyond the year after it is 

 planted. 



In conclusion, I think the best advice I can give readers of this 

 Journal who are interested in Lily cultivation is, not to be too much 

 encouraged by the optimism of the makers of catalogues, nor depressed 

 by the pessimism of a croaker like myself. On the one hand, it is quite 

 certain that the "likes a little peat," or "grows freely in any ordinary 

 border," which form the staple of a nurseryman's advice gratis, are by 

 no means the be-all and end-all of Lily cultivation ; on the other hand,, 

 there are plenty of gardens where the soils are light and warm, or where 

 the aspect is warmer, and there is more command of moisture in 

 summer, where several of the species which I am forced to regard as 

 hopeless might be cultivated with every prospect of success. 



According to Wordsworth, 



The wiser mind 

 Mourns less for what life takes away 

 Than what it leaves behind ; 



but the gardener's mind is, I fear, often disposed to moui*n and grumble 

 more about what he loses or cannot grow than to be satisfied with what 



