January, 1918 
Slower (Brower 
3 
Lily of the Valley for the 
North Side of the House. 
By Harmon W. Marsh. 
[Written expressly for The Flower Grower,} 
T HE LITTLE LADY glories in col- 
ors and color combinations, but 
deep down in her heart is a kin- 
dred feeling that amounts to a passion 
for the dainty and fragrant. Some of 
her eccentricities along this line are a 
kind of family joke, and her tall little 
son shows his dimples and has a 
wink for The-Man-of-the-House when 
he catches her talking baby talk to an 
especially saucy pansy. 
When the bungalow was built, the 
same question that proves a stumbling 
block for so many owners of new homes 
presented itself. The building sets 
close to the north side of the lot, and 
there is a strip of fifty feet of soil where 
the sun rarely shines and which is cov- 
ered by the overhanging eaves. A 
narrow cement walk encloses this strip 
and there is a privet hedge just outside 
the walk. 
The Little Lady was, as usual, equal 
to the occasion. Casting back in mem- 
ory for plants that would thrive in such 
an unpropitious location and not over- 
hang the walk too much, there came 
to her a distinct recollection of the 
group of big whispering pines that 
stood in one corner of the yard of the 
old homestead and how, in place of 
the bare ground usual under such con- 
ditions, the earth was covered from 
early spring until frost with a blanket 
of dark green. 
So two long rows of Lily of the Valley 
pips were planted parallel with the 
house. An old friend was glad to 
furnish the roots to check the en- 
croachments of the persistent little 
plants into forbidden territory. A row 
of violets was planted next the walk 
and bloomed freely for a year or two, 
but were finally forced out by the 
stronger growing plants. 
Lily of the Valley seems impervious 
to drouth and neglect, and the narrow 
strip is now a dense mass of dark green 
pointed leaves, while the hedge forms 
an effectual screen for the brick foun- 
dation. 
The blossoms are a little late in this 
shaded position, but they continue to 
come for three or four weeks. For 
delicate fragrance they have no equal. 
The Little Lady generally wears a spray 
at her throat during blooming season, 
she picks hundreds of the little wands, 
hung with pearly bells, for her friends, 
and the living room is permeated with 
their sweetness, from bunches that 
have been placed on mantel and table. 
The bed reached its full glory the 
past season and, as much to prevent 
wasting the blooms as anything else, a 
few bunches were sent to a down-town 
florist’s store. Perhaps a big wedding 
had something to do with the market, 
but be that as it may, the purse of the 
Little Lady grew plethoric and held 
just $15.50, derived from the sale of the 
blooms. Where can another patch of 
equal size be found that will yield as 
much with as little trouble? 
One of our correspondents offers a 
suggestion with reference to the plant- 
ing of cormels which may prove help- 
ful to other growers. When corms are 
dug late in the fall the cormels from 
choice varieties are planted at once in 
boxes of soil, labeled and placed in the 
cellar. Early in the spring the boxes 
are brought up, watered and placed in 
a moderately warm room. When the 
weather is warm enough, the boxes 
are taken outdoors. In this way a 
gain of several weeks may be made 
and greater development of the young 
corms and at the same time there is a 
much higher percentage of germina- 
tion of the cormels. 
Whatever scheme of planting is 
used the percentage of germination of 
bulblets is quite disappointing at times, 
many varieties being unsatisfactory. 
Flowers. 
How about flowers? Does it not 
seem as if these beautiful ornaments 
were among the non-essentials to be 
cast aside at this time? If the world 
is upset is there any place for flowers? 
I believe that the times of stress and 
sorrow that lie before us need all the 
cheer and uplift that flowers are so 
well fitted to render. The delight in 
beautiful flowers is the only human joy 
which may never be carried to harmful 
excess, which never degrades those 
who partake, however freely, of its 
ecstacy. Did you ever hear of anyone 
getting drunk on a bunch of flowers? 
Did you ever know of a man who could 
not go to work the next morning be- 
cause he bought a dollar’s worth of 
flowers the night before ? 
Shallow people say we must get rid 
of flowers now. They do not know or 
realize the wonderful power of these 
lovely messengers of comfort and cheer. 
They vastly underestimate the good 
that flowers can do in lifting the hopes 
of the sick and comforting those who 
are sad. There will be many weary 
and worn soldiers returning ere long 
from the toil and din of the battle front. 
Of one hundred men who go over, but 
two are actually killed and three badly 
wounded. The ninety-five that return 
are nerve-shattered and heart-sick. 
Shall we have a country bare and deso- 
late for them to return to? It is not 
mere sentiment alone, but an actual 
fact to which physicians and nurses 
will amply attest that flowers are a dis- 
tinct therapeutic value. By all means, 
then, let us not destroy these efficiency 
builders.— J. Horace McFarland. 
The potato seed advertisement of 
Geo. S. Woodruff on another page is in- 
teresting from the fact that potato 
seeds are now very rare. We have 
been fortunate enough to secure from 
Mr. Woodruff an article on the origin 
of new varieties of potatoes which will 
appear in the February issue. 
The Late M. Vilmorin. 
Philippe de Vilmorin, head of the 
world-famous wholesale seed house of 
Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., of France, 
died June 30th. He was forty-five 
years of age and had succeeded his 
father in the able direction of the firm 
which has long been an institution of 
the greatest value to horticulture and 
agriculture, dating from 1774. It is 
in the production of the sugar beet 
(by Louis Vilmorin in 1816-1860) that 
the most spectacular result rests, but 
each generation has labored consist- 
ently for continued improvements in 
vegetables and flowers, until the very 
name of Vilmorin raises ideals of 
progress and standards of accomplish- 
ment that are quite unusual. Philippe 
de Vilmorin had many friends in 
America, and the writer of this note 
records the loss of an esteemed friend 
who was at all times ready to assist 
from the stores of his knowledge and 
experience. — L. B. in Garden Magazine , 
Showing how Mrs. Marsh grows Lily of the Valley on the north 
side of the house as explained in this article. 
