406 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for three years in succession, though I have never had more than two 

 flowers on a stem. (Fig. 207.) 



Lilies of the speciosum, ThunhergianiLm, and tigrimim groups do 

 fairly well with me, so do L. Hcnryi, L. crocemn,&ndL. chaJcedoniciim, 

 but I cannot hit off the requirements of longiftorum, Krameri, concolor 

 (fig. 208), and other desirable species. L. Grayi and L. Batemanni(B 

 have made an excellent start this year, but it is too soon to consider 

 them successful. 



But I should like to detail my experiences with L. Parryi, as they may 

 perhaps prove useful to those who grow or intend to grow this beautiful 

 Lily. Though, comparatively speaking, an old Lily— introduced, I think, 

 in 1879— it has not been extensively grown in this country for more than 

 a few years, and the percentage of failures with it has been high. This, I 

 take it, arises chiefly from a want of knowledge of its habits and surround- 

 ings in its native country, California. Purchasers have certainly been 



Fig. 207. — L. Brownii. Fig. 208. L. concolor. 



under the impression hitherto that it is essentially a hog Lily, and as 

 such entitled to a place in peaty and wet soil. I certainly thought so 

 myself in 1898, when I joined Mr. Carrington Ley and two other friends 

 in the purchase of some bulbs from Mr. Carl Purdy, of California, and it 

 was by a most lucky fluke that I succeeded so well with my share. I have 

 already written on this subject in Tlic Garden of November 17, 1900, 

 and June 8, 1901, but shall venture, at the risk of repeating myself, to 

 give a brief account of my good fortune. My six bulbs were planted on 

 arrival in my so-called peat-bog, a small bed adjoining a brick-cemented 

 water-lily tank, from which a pipe was arranged to conduct the water 

 into the bog at pleasure. 



I planted them about six inches deep in a mixture of peat, loam, and 

 sand, about eighteen inches in thickness, under this being a layer about 

 twelve inches thick of stones, brickbats, broken bottles and other rubbish, 

 the whole draining eventually into the overflow from the tank. No 

 water was admitted during the winter subsequent to planting ; the only 

 protection given was a thin layer of cocoa-fibre intended merely to 

 preserve Primula rosea and other dwarf plants in the bed from the 

 designs of the early slugs. 



The six spikes duly appeared in the spring of 1899 and were a source 



