EXPERIENCES IN GROWING LIIJE.S. 



411 



EXPERIENCES IN GROWING LILIES. 



By Dr. Bonavia, F.R.H.S. 



First and foremost must be placed the lovely Lilium candidum. For 

 this one Lily is unique ; not only on account of the purity of its white- 

 ness, and beautiful shape, but also on account of the ease with which it 

 grows and flourishes, and the peculiarity which it alone possesses of 

 throwing up winter leaves which are not destroyed by 10° of frost. 



The soil of my garden is a stiffish one, but very porous. If a can of 

 water is poured on it, in less than a minute the water disappears. 



When I came here I found a few bulbs of the L. candidum, which I 

 took up and replanted at once. They never hesitated in throwing up 

 their winter foliage ; they flourished, and flowered next summer. 



A lady friend has a large number of them in her garden, and she 

 finds no difficulty whatever in growing them. 



Then I bought a dozen fine bulbs from a bulb merchant in London. 

 As soon as I received them, I planted them on the outskirts of a Rhodo- 

 dendron bed in September. They all came up the first year and flowered ; 

 but now I have only five of these, and they do not appear very strong. 

 The rest have disappeared. 



Then I bought a hundred here which had been forced. Some of them 

 came up weakly, and now I have, of that lot, only three weak ones left. 



Those who have them and wish to replant them should not keep them 

 out of the ground, even for an hour. The ground should be well dug, 

 and manured with old manure — for this Lily is not afraid of manure — 

 before taking them up ; and then replant at once. 



I think that many failures occur in growing Lilies, omng to then* 

 having been dried for exportation. The bulb may retain sufficient vigour 

 to throw up a stem and flower the first year ; but its constitution may 

 have been injured by the drying process, and in many cases it does 

 nothing afterwards. 



I tried a laro-e number of the Lilies on Wallace's list, and the follow- 

 ing are the only ones that remain. 



It should be noted that this year, with its long drought and cold 

 easterly winds, has been very unfavourable to Lilies, excepting the 

 L. candidum, for several are stunted, and in three or four cases wholly 

 blind. 



L. Haiisoni. — Tall. Leaves in whorls ; flowers pendulous, petals thick 

 and bright yellow, spotted maroon. 



This comes up every year, and does not appear to have suflered much 

 from the drought. 



L. pardalinum. — Leaves scattered, and flowers erect, orange-yellow, 

 with deeper coloured centre, and spotted maroon. This year it is stunted 

 and few-flowered. 



L. Martayon. — Leaves in whorls; flowers pendulous in a long spike, 

 maroon purple, centre colour of yellow ochre, and spotted maroon ; the 



