2f>G 
GLENNY S JIAND-BOOK TO THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
these flowers are shown for prizes, they must 
be shown on a single flower stem, and all the 
blooms and branches on it. They might be 
shown in stands or tubes of half-a-dozen varie- 
ties, and would make a very pleasing change 
in the tables of flowers. Like most herba- 
ceous perennials which increase rapidly by 
the spreading of the roots, seedlings have 
been neglected, but it is not too late to begin. 
GLENNY S HAND-BOOK TO THE FLOWER- 
GARDEN.* 
Suppose it possible that every writer had 
written for himself, and had given us his own 
sentiments in his own language, the multi- 
plicity of works on gardening would seem 
prodigious, and there would seem no excuse 
for adding one to the number. But as a 
multitude of books is not necessarily like a 
"multitude of council," so we cannot say 
there is always wisdom. The truth is, and it 
cannot be gainsaid, that it is now possible to 
take up twenty works on gardening without 
discovering in the most modern one new idea. 
Old Abercrombie, in his popular volume, 
" Every Man his own Gardener," has fur- 
nished the writers of the last half century 
with all their material, and the fact will be 
apparent to any one who will take the trouble 
to read the original work ; and ad the small 
fry of garden literature that followed him 
will be found very poor imitators. This can 
hardly be said of a writer who struck out into 
a new line ; who begun by treating of flowers 
not previously mentioned ; who adopted a 
style of his own, not always admired for its 
elegance, but generally approved for its clear- 
ness. Mr. Glenny is an original writer. He 
can have copied from nobody, for he writes 
like nobody. Get him into a controversy, 
and he is abusive ; read him on a matter 
of garden practice, and where there is nobody 
to quarrel with, and you have more in one 
page than any other writer gives in half-a- 
dozen. The work now submitted to the 
gardening public is a very plain-dealing affair. 
The notes of Mr. Glenny's own practice are 
reduced to plain reading ; they are guaranteed 
as the result, or perhaps the origin, of suc- 
cessful practice ; they are neither borrowed 
nor compiled from other authors, but form the 
groundwork of a very successful horticultural 
career. They have at different times been 
enlarged upon, and elaborate Treatises pub- 
lished. "Wherever this has been the case, the 
identical number of the work in which it 
appeared is appended to the end of the article; 
* " Glenny's Hand-Book to the Flower-Garden, 
Shrubbery, and Greenhouse." London : C. Cox, 12, 
King William Street, Strand. 
so that the work will form a very excellent 
instructor on the science of Floriculture and 
Gardening, and supersede nine-tenths of the 
works at present published. We select an 
example by way of illustration of the style 
and matter of the book : — 
" Lilium (Lily). — Many of these are fami- 
liar plants in all gardens. It is a genus of 
bulbous-rooted perennials, containing many 
distinct species, nearly, perhaps quite, all of 
them perfectly hardy, or sufficiently so to 
admit of their being cultivated in the open 
garden. The common lily, L. candidum, 
with white flowers in June ; the orange lily, 
L. bxdbiferum, with rich orange flowers in 
June; the Turk's-cap lily, L. Martagon, 
flowering in July, with purple or white 
varieties ; the scarlet Martagon, L. chalce- 
donicum, with rich vermilion blossoms in 
July; and. the tiger lily, L. tigrinum, with 
pale red flowers, spotted with black, produced 
in July, are among the best of the older 
sorts, and are all very handsome garden 
flowers. These merely require to be planted 
in good garden soil. The most beautiful of 
all the kinds, however, are the more recently 
introduced, such as Lilium speciosum, or lan- 
cifolium, and its superb varieties, punctatum, 
i % oseum, rubrum, album, &c. The plants 
grow from eighteen inches to three feet high, 
and bear five or six flowers, (sometimes many 
more,) some variegated, as if rubies were 
stuck all over their petals, and their petals 
were formed of pearl. The varieties are 
striking, and the flowers are much more noble 
in size than any of the ordinary lilies. Loam, 
from rotted turves cut thin and laid together, 
two-thirds ; dung, one-sixth ; turfy peat, one- 
sixth, well incorporated, is a fine compost for 
them ; and the principal thing to look to is 
the health of the root, the size of the pot, and 
the drainage. There should be plenty of 
pot-room. Let them be placed in a cold 
frame, and be covered in bad or cold weather; 
they will grow without any difficulty ; and as 
they rise too high for the frame, remove them 
to the greenhouse, where they will flower in 
great perfection, and retain their beauty a 
long time if shaded from the heat of the sun. 
They will seed freely, and plants are easily 
raised from seed. The seeds may be placed 
an inch apart, in pans, and placed in heat. 
"When up, let them be removed to the green- 
house, and be undisturbed two seasons. They 
may then be placed in sixty-sized pots (three 
inches across), and grown until they are filled 
with roots ; then removed to larger, until 
they flower. They are multiplied by offsets, 
which form round the old roots. These 
varieties are, however, sufficiently hardy to 
grow in the open air, if the beds are covered 
with some light compost in winter ; and, 
