286 
T H E G A R D E N M A G A Z I N E 
July, 1915 
covering them in autumn with a mulch of 
rotted leaves or exhausted manure. 
Strictly speaking, a bulb is a bud just as 
much so as the winter-bud of a Hickory or 
Horse-chestnut, but with this difference: 
its scales are fleshy storehouses of starch 
and other food reserves instead of merely 
dry and chaffy protective scales, and roots 
are emitted from the base. These basal 
roots anchor the bulb and supply it with 
water and certain food salts. If we ex- 
amine Lilies like L. Henryi, L. auratum and 
L. regale we find that the underground part 
of the flowering stem bears masses of roots. 
These help to feed the growing stem and 
prevent undue exhaustion of the bulb. 
After flowering this root system assists in 
the rehabilitation of the bulb. Roots 
emitted from the stem above the ground 
quickly perish. An appreciation of these 
facts shows the necessity of deep-planting. 
The bulbs of all stem-rooting Lilies (and the 
majority are such) should be planted twice 
their own depth down. That is to say, a 
bulb three inches high should have six 
inches of soil covering it and so on in pro- 
portion. The importance of deep planting 
is not sufficiently understood but go and 
dig up a few Lily bulbs from their native 
haunts and it will be found they are usually 
deeper down than twice their height. 
The majority ofLilies are at rest, or nearly 
so, during the winter months but all kinds 
benefit from planting as early in the fall as 
is possible. 
The Madonna Lily ( L . candidum) is an 
exception in several wavs. In the first 
place it resents moving. When this has to 
be done it should be undertaken not later 
than six weeks after flowering as the resting 
period of this Lilv is unusually short. Again, 
it should be noted that this Lilv has a mass 
of broad basal leaves independent of the 
flowering stem and it is these leaves with 
the assistance of the roots that build up the 
bulb. This Lily should have the top of its 
bulb only just covered with soil. It pre- 
fers rather stiff loam in a situation fully 
exposed to the sun but it will glow in dry 
and hungry limestone soils. Bulbs grown 
in the south of England are the best though 
the majority of dealers still insist that 
French-grown bulbs are superior. 
From this cursory consideration of the 
conditions in which Lilies grow wild in 
various parts of the world a few facts of 
cardinal importance to the Lily lover may 
be deduced. In the first place since Lilies 
inhabit the waste places of the Northern 
Hemisphere it is obvious that they are 
unaccustomed to rich food. For this reason 
even stable manure should not be used in 
their culture and artificial fertilizers are ab- 
solutely inimical. All Lilies grow naturally 
in places where each autumn they receive a 
mulch of fallen leaves. Leafsoil and not 
manure is the requisite essential. Nearly 
all grow in well-drained situations and good 
drainage is absolutely necessary to ensure 
success. Lilies of the swamp, woodland, 
and alpine meadow are with rare exceptions 
difficult to cultivate. Those which grow 
among shrubs and herbs more or less ex- 
posed to the sun are less exacting and in this 
class is found the majority of the sorts 
amenable to cultivation in ordinary gardens. 
It is not possible to lay down any hard 
and fast rules, but good sound bulbs and a 
common-sense attention to a few elemen- 
tary details are the essentials. Several 
kinds of Lilies present no more difficulties 
under cultivation than do Narcissi and 
Tulips; nevertheless in most gardens to 
maintain Lilies in good health new soil or 
removal to a new site is necessary every few 
years. 
Among the following baker’s dozen and 
make-weight will be found Lilies which will 
thrive and give satisfaction in any and 
every garden in temperate climes with the 
sine qua non that sound bulbs only be 
planted: L. tigrinum, L. umbellatum L. 
Hansonii, L. pardalinum, L. superbum, L. 
candidum, L. croceum, L. Henryi, L. regale, 
L. Sargentiae, L. auratum, L. speciosum, L. 
testaceum and L. Thayer ae. 
[Note: The next article of this series to 
appear in August will be on “Midseason 
Flowering Trees and Shrubs.”]. 
The Home Fruit Garden in Summer — By J. R. Mattern il? 
WHAT TO DO IN FERTILIZING, PRUNING, AND GENERAL CARE TO ENSURE BIG CROPS 
It pays to feed the fruit trees. From left to right No. 1 nitrate of soda 30 lbs. 
No. 2 nitrate of soda 20 lbs.; No. 3 none! 
I N OUR preceding article it 
was explained how to protect 
your trees and plants from 
nearly all enemies that might 
attack them. But having them 
healthy and ready to grow is only 
part of the game. They must be 
fed, and must be shown how to 
grow, and how not to. 
CULTIVATION OR TILLAGE 
Peaches, dwarf pears, straw- 
berries (in their first year) and 
grapes must be given tillage. 
Apples, pears, plums, cherries, 
currants, gooseberries, raspberries, 
and blackberries may be cultivated 
(and should be for the best results), 
but they can be handled very satisfactorily 
with little cultivation if they are mulched 
properly. 
To set free the greatest amount of plant 
food, mix and make fine the soil as deeply 
as possible. Open it up so air and water 
can penetrate. Keep a sufficient supply 
of moisture present, and get vegetable 
matter into the ground deeply. To hold 
moisture make the ground loose enough so 
water can penetrate in quantities, and fine 
enough so water may be held in quantity 
sufficient. Water that plants can use is 
held in the ground by capillarity — in the 
form of moisture films surrounding soil 
particles. It is not held between soil 
particles. 
In case there is no rain for several weeks 
the surface should be worked every ten 
days anyhow. The cultivation for this 
purpose should be no more than two or 
three inches deep. Use a horse if you can. 
If you can not, then use a wheel hoe, or a 
hand hoe. For the deep tillage in the spring 
a two-horse plow is best. All fruits do best 
on a deep soil over an open subsoil that will 
allow perfect drainage. That is why dyna- 
miting garden ground is so effective. It 
produces deep topsoil and open 
subsoil. 
Don’t cultivate your fruit garden 
from a week before until a couple 
of weeks after it blooms. Cultiva- 
tion in the spring for bearing 
strawberry beds is a delusion and 
a snare. Avoid it. If you wish to 
cut down the amount of work re- 
quired, you may mulch your apple 
trees, and your cherries, currants, 
gooseberries and all the other ber- 
ries except the strawberries. They 
must be mulched the year they 
bear. 
MULCHING 
There are two kinds of mulch that 
may be used in home fruit gardens. One is 
the dust mulch, already explained. The 
other, and the one commonly meant by the 
term “mulch,” is made of hay, grass, straw, 
or other vegetable material. The chief 
purpose of a mulch is to conserve moisture, 
though a vegetable mulch supplies plant 
food to the soil as it decays, and keeps down 
weeds. The best material for such a mulch 
is timothy or salt hay. Cut corn fodder 
is good, also buckwheat hulls. Use the 
material that you can get nearest home and 
the cheapest. Maple and ash leaves are 
excellent. Oak leaves contain too much 
