October 9, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
321 
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ISrn Sunday after Trinity. 
Eoyal Horticultural Soc'ety’s Fruit Show (three days). 
HOME-GROWN LILY OP THE VALLEY. 
'MMON flowers are very generally treated in a 
manner approaching to neglect, but they do 
not resent the indifference of their keepers in 
the degree that more pretentious though not 
more lovely foreigners are apt to do. This is 
true of common flowers in general, and the 
humble Lily [of the Valley is not any excep¬ 
tion to the rule. It is relegated to all sorts 
of corners; year after year it is lefc in the same 
position Uncared for, and only secures a short-lived notice 
when bearing its drooping spikes of perfumed bells. But 
Lily of the Valley, hardy as it is, and yielding as it does its 
annual harvest of flowers under the greatest neglect, responds 
a,s freely and as fully to good treatment as any plant. I have 
lifted crowns from amongst shrubs crowded with weeds, and 
producing spikes with a few small flowers, and in the course 
of three years with good culture the same clumps have yielded 
long and stout spikes with from fifteen to twenty large blos¬ 
soms on each. Nor does it require much outlay in labour 
and attention to secure such results. Ground is the better 
for trenching, but that is not indispensable, ordinary digging 
yields capital results. A thick dressing of fresh cow manure 
is the best agent to produce improving growth. If there be 
much straw or litter shake that out, and employ the excre¬ 
ment as pure as possible. In digging mix the dung well 
through the soil, and see that no clods are left unbroken 
under ground. 
The best time to plant is after the growth is finished in 
fine weather, any time from January to the end of March 
being suitable. I have had the finest spikes and foliage from 
single crowns dibbled in about 4 inches apart each way. 
It is not of advantage to save any more roots than those 
which are formed just underneath the crown. A mulching 
of manure is placed over the beds when planting is finished, 
and an annual mulching must not be forgotten every winter. 
In fact, room for the foliage to develope and sufficient nourish¬ 
ment are the two main points the cultivator has to keep in 
view in order to secure the best results. The position of the 
beds is not very important. We have them facing east, west, 
south, and north, as a means of prolonging the season of 
bloom from out-of-door plants, and I find little difference in 
the result. We have five varieties, differing slightly from each 
other when grown under the same conditions, but for ordi¬ 
nary purposes it may be assumed that any Lily of the Valley 
may be transferred from a narrow, flimsy, yellow-leaved 
form with short spikes and small bells, into a grand variety 
with dark green leathery foliage and handsome massive 
spikes. 
As good forced Lily of the Valley is one of those plants 
which gardeners are proud to have throughout winter and 
spring, I will add a few short notes on one simple and effi¬ 
cient method of treatment. I have bought prepared clumps, 
a hundred at a time, and of “ Berlin ” crowns a thousand, 
hoping to get better results than from those of my own 
growing, and in both cases I was disappointed. Our home- 
No. 224.—VoL. IX., Tuiud Skeies. 
prepared roots proved to be easier to force into foliage and 
flower, and both were superior to the bought produce. My 
experience, and I know it is not singular, is that forced 
foreign-grown crowns cannot prodiice good spikes before about 
the middle of January, and not nearly so good then as those 
from home-prepared crowns. On the other hand, if wanted 
there is no difficulty in having Lily of the Valley any time from 
August onwards. We require flowers from the beginning of 
December, and have the first ready in the end of the month 
preceding, keeping up a supply right on until the out-of- 
door flowers are ready. 
The forcing does not begin in autumn or winter, 
but in the preceding spring, when the plants are kept 
growing so as to finish their growth and form flower 
spikes early in the season. There is invariably a tendency 
in these plants to start into growth and flower in the 
same way as Primroses and other spring flowers in early 
autumn, and they have accordingly to be kept dry and in as 
cool a position as possible until cold weather restrains them. 
At about the end of September the surface of the pots is re¬ 
newed, the material employed being half dry loam, half dry 
cow manure, to which is added some artificial manure of our 
own composition. The soil after this is kept moderately 
moist. From the middle to the end of October the first batch 
is “ started.” Our mode of procedure with this and following 
batches is to place the pots on the pipes of a plant house, 
which is kept at a temperature of 55^ to 75°. The crowns 
are thickly covered with clean straw, which is kept moist, and 
very shortly the buds commence growth. The straw is 
allowed to remain until the spikes and foliage have pushed 
through, some of them 3 or 4 inches, then the pots are placed 
on a shelf, still covered with the straw, which is removed by 
degrees as the plants develope. It is well, however, to let 
them be slightly covered until the flowers commence opening. 
No one who has not tried this simple expedient could credit 
the difference the straw makes in bringing out both foliage 
and spikes. 
Later in the season poffals are placed under stages, the 
chief thing being to start them, and afterwards develope the 
plants in light. The earlier-forced plants have about a dozen 
bells to a spike, as the season advances fourteen to fifteen are 
common, and in February we often have from sixteen to 
nineteen, and always with good foliage. From the end of 
February there is no difficulty in inducing plants to come on 
quickly in any structure where there is a moist warm atmo¬ 
sphere. All the plants as they cease flowering are placed 
where they will continue growing, so as to be of use the next 
season. Those that need repotting are attended when past 
flowering, and any fresh-made potfuls are lifted from the 
ground in March. The size of pots they succeed best in are 
from 7 to 11 inches in diameter, and the soil used is a good 
loam, to which a third part of dry cow manure is added. 
Any plants which have suffered much from enforced bad 
treatment in the house are planted out, and in the course of 
two or three years they are again fit for lifting and flowering 
in early spring. 
The points which require to be emphasised in Lily of the 
Valley culture are preparing the plants properly, not to force 
them too rapidly, to cover the crowns during the winter 
season, to feed well, and thin out the weakest growths. For 
cutting prepared clumps are occasionally lifted and flowered 
thickly in boxes, but generally this is not a plan I approve 
of.—R. P. B. 
INTERNATIONAL POTATO EXHIBITION. 
TRIAL OF NEW VARIETIES AT CHISWICK, 1884. 
The Royal Horticultural Society has again generously 
assisted the International Potato Exhibition by affording all 
the needful means for trial culture of seedling Potatoes 
entered for competition. They have been grown at Chiswick 
under the superintendence of Mr. A. F. Barron, and have 
been inspected from time to time and finally submitted to 
No. 1880.—VoL IXXI., Old Seeies. 
