60 4 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Decev.i' c 13, 1883. 
of anything striking and good or ingenious, stating where it 
was seen. And let me say in passing that gardens of the more 
humble order should not be thought unworthy of a visit, for in 
many of them there is much to be learned, as well as in those of 
a more pretentious character. 
I have already referred to specialists. There are few minds 
so evenly balanced and self-controlled that it can be made to 
devote an equal portion of leisure hours to various subjects, 
and to prosecute each with an equal amount of success and 
pleasure. Whatever a youth may have a special fancy for, be it 
botany, chemistry, or drawing, let him make it a pastime ; it will 
always be found a welcome change from anything which in his 
way of thinking is dry, but do not go botany mad or drawing 
mad to the exclusion of everything else. 
In conclusion, I would pen a few words of warning. Let 
young gardeners keep a respectable distance from other domestics 
on the establishment. Especially would I say, Avoid a too close 
association with stablemen. This too often leads to card-playing, 
drinking, and betting, which gardeners should have nothing to 
do with. In some gentlemen's houses some temptation is held 
out to those visiting the hall in the shape of the inevitable horn 
of beer. Many get to like it through this alone; and although it 
may be said that gardeners are a sober class of men, yet there are 
black sheep in their ranks, and doubtless many a poor man has 
had to regret the horns of beer first handed to him by his fellow 
servants. I am not a blue-ribbon man, but let me advise young 
men to give drink shops and drinking a wide berth. In my 
younger days I at one time went to a dancing class, and for the 
time went dancing mad, and at another to a singing class, 
and went sing'ng mad. These things are all very well in their 
way if taken in moderation ; but as it is difficult to put old heads 
on young shoulders, so it is difficult to moderate the excitement 
of either dancing, singing, or drinking when once entered into. 
There is one more little matter which I think I must refer to, 
ds it is perhaps the one thing over which I have wasted more 
time than on all the others put together-viz., novel reading. 
This is one of the most baneful things that can obstruct the 
path of the student, who lias to read much that seems very dry 
and unpalatable after an exciting flight of the fancy. If given 
way to it, unfits the mind for anything else. This is my experi¬ 
ence, and 1 have wasted many a precious hour reading them. 
Very few of our weekly newspapers appear without their chapters 
of fiction, bearing testimony to the great waste of time, by the 
thousands who read them. But this is not the worst form of 
novel-reading; it is when youths take to going to a friend or to 
a library, and coming home with a two or three-volume novel, 
that the greatest evil is done, as little else is thought of till 
it is read through. This is, therefore, a nract ce that is to be 
avoided. 
Young gardeners are not over-remunerated we all know, and it 
is well for them to be cai’eful for the future as for the present. 
Let each try to spare 6 d. a week for some friendly society, and 
let them do so while they are young. No reader will now have 
to complain of not knowing where to apply to, since the claims 
of the United Horticultural Benefit Society have been so promi¬ 
nently brought forward. I have subscribed some eight years to 
an Odd Fellows Club, and had I joined the above Society then 
I would probably had nearly as much to my credit on the books 
as would be paid as funeral money by the Odd Fellows if I had 
subscribed to them for fifty yeais. 1 have even now, at a great 
disadvantage, offered myself for election as a member of the 
U. H. B. S. I think it is by far the best and fairest scheme to 
individual members of any society that has come under my 
notice, and I hope head gardeners and under gardeners will 
hasten to swell the number of the “ United. 5 ’ 
I hope some young men may gather some little hints from 
the above letter, should its contents see the light of day from 
171, Fleet Street, and that they will accept the compliments of 
the season from—A Working Gardener. 
MARIPOSA LILIES. 
Such is the euphonious name given to a small series of 
bulbous plants included in the genus Calochortus. I refer 
now to the genus as including those species which Lindley 
was pleased to designate Cyclobothras, for the deviation from 
the typical Calochorti is so slight that they do not merit the 
separation. What gems they all are ! Are you acquainted with 
them? Now is the time to be on the look-out for them. Like 
many other good things these find their way to King Street, 
Covent Garden, and Mr. Stevens has frequently to knock down 
a dozen bulbs of C. venustus and others for 2s. 6rf. or 3s. But, 
coming to the point, how to grow these bulbs to insure their 
being lasting adjuncts to the garden, I may mention that a few 
years since I visited Mr. Ware’s celebrated nurseries at Totten¬ 
ham, and noticed some persons preparing several small beds of 
good soil, the old soil being removed, if my memory serves me 
rightly, to a depth of 18 inches, and the spaces filled with very 
good soil. Upon inquiry I found these beds -were being prepared 
for the reception of Calochorti, and almost every time since, 
when associated with these charming plants, I have wondered 
how they succeeded. Perhaps Mr. Ware or Mr. Perry would 
kindly communicate this information for the benefit of other 
readers besides myself. My experience is adverse to such 
treatment, for the bulbs seem to have a tendency to force 
themselves to a great depth in the soil, especially if loose, and 
each year get weaker and ultimately disappear. I have often 
been surprised when searching for the bulbs to find them much 
lower than I expected. I h ve raised a number this year and 
replanted them, but have placed some pieces of slate of a good 
size directly under the bulbs to prevent their downward course. 
I was induced to adopt this p’an from my experience with them 
this year under pot treatment, having flowered a large number 
of kinds in pots, and when the bulbs were turned out this 
autumn for repotting, I found they were finer than when 
potted last year, and promise well for next year’s flowering but 
they were hard down upon the crocks. They were potted three 
and four bulbs m 6-inch pots in the following compost—good 
fibrous loam, leaf soil, a little good pe it and coarse sand, potted 
firmly, and during growth well supplied with water, even to the 
withering of the stems, when they were ripened off under a light, 
and so far the result is very satisfactory. During the flowering 
period they were a great source of interest to many others beside 
myself, the beautiful form and blendings of colours in the flowers 
being quite as attractive as the choicest Orchids. I may say for 
the benefit of those who may be desirous of growing these 
plants, that they are now easily procurable from both British 
and American dealers. Happily the postal and pai'cel traffic 
between this country and the United States largely facilitates 
the importation of choice plants from all parts of that vast 
continent so rich in plant treasures; and without any prejudice 
against our own dealers, I recommend the readers of the Journal, 
if they are unable to secure bulbs at a reasonable price in this 
country, to apply to some of our American cousins, and there 
will be no difficulty in forming a good collection at a moderate 
price. 
I give a full list of the species and varieties now under 
cultivation as far as my knowledge leads. Those described in 
full flowered with me in pots last summer, and I carefully 
verified the names. 
Calochortus alhus, Dougl.—A very lovely species, frequently 
called Cyclobothra alba, it having been figured m the “ Botanical 
Register,” t. 1661, under that name. It grows from 9 inches to 
15 inches high, glaucous throughout, with lanceolate elongated 
leaves and large foliaceous bracts, the stem terminated by a few- 
flowered raceme; perianth globular, with concave pure white 
divisions, bearded above the gland, and copiously ciliated with 
long white hairs; the gland is fringed with short yellowish 
glandular hairs. This is one of the handsomest and most easily 
grown of the genus, and is very common and rather widely 
distributed, occurring on the basal hills of the Sierra Nevada, 
and on the hills from Los Angelos Co. to Sonoma. I had one 
pot of this last summer with thirty flowers, and it was gr.eatly 
admired, and if I remember rightly the flowers were sweetly 
scented. 
C. Benthami, Baker.—This is the name generally adopted for 
this species, named in honour of a world-renowned botanist, 
although Mr. Bentham himself named it Cyclobothra elegans 
var. lutea. It is a dwarf and slender-growing little species not 
often more than 6 inches high, with from two to six flowers; 
perianth bell-shaped, nearly erect, divisions about half an inch 
long, deep yellow, and densely covered with yellow hairs, with a 
deep brown claw beneath the gland. It is a charming little gem, 
very easily managed in pots. Pretty frequent on the Sierra 
Nevada from Mariposa to Butte Counties. 
C. cccruleus, Watson (Cyclobothra elegans var., Benth; C. ccerulea, 
Kellogg).—This rather rare species grows about 4 or 6 inches 
high, the stem branched, and carrying an umbel of from 
two to five flowers more or less bell-shaped in form, and 
with a. so’itary narrow leaf much longer than the stem; the 
divisions of the perianth are half an inch or rather more long, 
the inner ones deeply pitted and arching, of a lilac or light blue 
colour dotted and barred with a deep shade of blue, thickly 
covered and ciliated with slender hairs. I had only a few small 
bulbs of this species, but one produced two flowers, and it was 
very distinct from any of the others which bloomed. Native of 
the Sierra Nevada. 
C. elegans , Pursh.—This is one of the earliest known of all 
