1-v- 
AME'R TC.AX .ArrETCUI.TTJRIST. 
[May, 
- _ 
Japan Lilies, 
These beautiful flowers, brought from Japan 
some twenty years ago, were, until within a few 
years, considered too tender for out-door culture, 
and the books and horticultural magazines gave 
minute directions for their treatment in pots. 
They are, however, as hardy as many of the com¬ 
mon garden flowers, surviving the alternate freez¬ 
ings and thawings of our most rigorous and 
changeable Winters. A flower of such beauty 
should be more generally cultivated. Bulbs can 
be obtained of seedsmen, florists, and nursery¬ 
men, but as they are still rather scarce, they 
command from 40c. to $1, and even $2 each, ac¬ 
cording to rareness. A few bulbs can easily be 
increased in a single season by the natural off¬ 
sets, or still faster by separating the scales and 
potting them, or placing them in a moderate hot¬ 
bed with plenty of sand. Whole bulbs may be 
planted either in Fall or Spring—better in the Fall, 
usually. They may be put in common garden 
soil, but thrive better where the ground is dug 
deeply, and has a coating of manure, and plenty 
of well decomposed muck worked into it. If in¬ 
clined to clay, an addition of sand with the 
muck will be beneficial. Set the bulbs with the 
crowns three inches below the surface, and cul¬ 
tivate like other lilies. They grow from four to 
six feet high, and have a nodding bloom, as shown 
in the engraving. There are several varieties of 
the Japan lily, conspicuous among which is the 
Speciosum, figured herewith. This has a pink 
ami white ground, its reflexed petals being beauty- 
fully spotted with red and crimson. Planted in 
beds one foot apart each way, they produce a fine 
effect, besides emitting an agreeable fragrance. 
Upon the approach of Winter, it is well to cover 
with a few inches of coarse manure, which serves 
as a partial protection, and enriches the soil. 
They should not be moved often, differing mate¬ 
rially from the tulip in this respect. Every fifth 
year is quite often enough, and it is better to 
leave them even longer. 
Time for Planting the Garden. 
That “ haste makes waste,’’ is true in garden¬ 
ing. One swallow does not make a Summer, nor 
will one, two, or three warm days early in April 
make it safe for the gardener »o commence ope¬ 
rations, as inexperienced 
beginners are usually in 
haste to do. Egg plants, 
tomatoes, and cabbages 
from the hot-bed, and 
tender leaved cucum¬ 
bers, squashes, beans, 
etc., can illy withstand 
long continued cold rains, 
even if they escape the 
late cutt ing frosts. Ex¬ 
cepting the hardy vege¬ 
tables, as spinach, rad¬ 
ishes, lettuce, onions, 
peas, winter cherry, etc., 
which, with raspberries, 
blackberries, currants, 
gooseberries, grapes, as¬ 
paragus, and rhubarb 
may be planted from the 
first to the tenth of April, 
in this latitude, there is 
little gained by putting in 
seeds or setting out 
plants before the fif¬ 
teenth, and often not till 
the twentieth of the 
month. J.et the ground be sufficiently warm to 
start the seeds quickly, and push the young plant 
forward rapidly, after it is up. A memorandum 
of some of our own planting may be of service to 
the novice, beginning with those kinds not enu¬ 
merated above. 
April 12, sowed seed for early turnips, kohl 
rabi, a few beets, and planted early potatoes; 
15th, sowed a few carrots, planted a little early 
corn, some cucumbers, nasturtiums, and salsafy; 
20th, set out early cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuce, 
and tomatoes from hot-bed; also sowed parsneps, 
and planted early beans; 25th, planted late beans, 
more corn, potatoes, late squashes, remainder of 
the carrots, water and muskmelons. May 2d, set 
out egg plants, and more tomatoes ; sowed peas, 
spinach, radishes, and lettuce for succession ; 
10th, sowed rest of the beets, and more peas. 
June 1st, planted more corn, and sowed peas 
again ; also set out late cabbage and cauliflower 
plants. July 5th, sowed turnips for general crop 
on ground cleared from early peas, radishes, let¬ 
tuce, spinach, and potatoes soon to be dug. 
The Lima Bean. 
This is probably the best leguminous plant 
grown in our gardens. It has a rich, sweet, and 
buttery flavor, which can be compared to nothing 
but itself. In the neighborhood of each of our 
large cities several hundred acres are annually 
devoted to this plant, so great a favorite is it 
with every body, in season and out of season. 
And it is easily raised. As the Summer at the 
North is a little short for its full enjoyment, it is 
well to hurry it forward in Spring by a shovel or 
two of manure in each hill, and raising the hill 
three inches above the surrounding surface, will 
help in giving a start. Let the soil all around be 
mellow and warm, and the situation be well open 
to the sun. Plant five or six beans to a hill, and 
if all start, thin them out afterwards to three or 
four plants. Set the poles in the center of the 
hill, at the time of planting. Our own practice is 
to plant in drills on a bed about two feet wide by 
the side of a cheap trellis or frame, described in 
Vol. XVIII, page 166, (June No.), and as the 
vines grow, they are trained up on twine leaders. 
This gives them more light and air, than when 
they wind together upon poles, gives stronger 
growth, and hastens their maturity. When the 
vines have grown seven or eight feet high, they 
should be pinched off, so as to cause an earlier 
and fuller development of the pods below. This 
last is doctrine for the north—not so important 
at the south. 
When the first frost comes, gather the pods, 
and you may have Lima beans at Christmas, as 
fresh, plump, and delicious, as those picked from 
the vines in August. How 1 Pick them before 
the frost has injured them, spread them on the 
garret floor, or any airy loft, turning them over 
once or twice while dryinc. Reserve the largest 
and ripest for seed. The green beans will need 
soaking only twelve hours before cooking, the 
riper ones will need twenty-four. These beans 
are particularly fine when used in Winter with 
sweet corn ; we have luxuriated upon them re¬ 
cently, and write from the inspiration. They 
may also be kept, when well cooked, in fruit bot¬ 
tles or cans, by corking and sealing them air¬ 
tight, by which process their peculiar flavor is 
preserved. With such delicacies within reach, 
there is no need of being limited to the few ar¬ 
ticles of diet in common use on the farmer’s table. 
-* --—- 
Training Tomatoes. 
Tomato plants are too frequently left to take 
care of themselves. Some gardeners even main¬ 
tain that it is better to let them lie upon the 
ground to receive the benefit of the heat absorbed 
by the soil during the day. There is some ad¬ 
vantage in this, but it is more than counterbal¬ 
anced by their liability to rot, and to be injured 
by insects and absence of sunshine. Many who 
attempt to train their tomatoes, do it imperfectly. 
A single stake is driven in the ground, and the 
whole plant is drawn together with a string, and 
tied to the stake, leaving but a small portion ex¬ 
posed to sun and air. A better method, which 
we have seen practiced, is to “ stick ” them like 
peas, using two or three strong bushes for each 
plant. In the above cut the plant is spread out 
upon a frame or low trellis, exposing both fruit 
and foliage to the full benefit of the sun, as is 
shown in the illustration above. Of course the 
frame should be upon the north side, and it is 
better to cut away some of the branches, and 
head back those which are too rampant. Trained 
and pinched back in this way, ripe fruit can be 
had, from hot-house plants, during the latter part 
of July. Another method, though not equal to 
the above, is to drive stakes about the patch, 
and fasten poles upon them, making a horizontal 
frame about two feet from the ground This 
keeps them up, but they do not receive the ex¬ 
posure needed, so well as when trained to the 
upright frame in the manner above described.^ 
