November 6, 1690.] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
399 
inserted firmly in sandy soil in small pots, and these placed in a pro¬ 
pagating frame. The old shoots are placed on a shelf in a stove, 
when the dormant eyes soon start into growth. These soon form 
useful cuttings, when they are taken off with a heel, and inserted 
like the tops firmly in small pots, and from these when well rooted 
into 48’s. Equal parts of turfy loam and peat, with the addition 
of silver sand and charcoal, form a suitable compost. Vigorous 
syringing for young growing stock is very beneficial in keeping 
the foliage free from either red spider or thrips, which soon dis- 
•figure the plants when allowed to gain a footing.—A. Young. 
LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
It is somewhat surprising how little trouble is taken in the 
cultivation of this ever-popular plant, for though it would be a 
hopeless search trying to find a garden without it, just as every 
garden has its spot sacred to the Violet and the Rose, yet in how 
many gardens can it he said that due attention is paid to its wants ? 
The bed or clump of Lily of the Valley may be likened to the brook 
-of the poet—it goes on for ever. A change of garden government 
may see the overhauling of many things, but as a rule the most 
extreme reforms stop short at the spindly and antiquated plants, 
which do their very best to pay a quota of sweet-smelling sprays 
for the space they are allowed to occupy. This is not as it should 
be. Nothing pays better than improving Lily of the Valley by 
good cultivation. In comparison with most cultivated plants the 
labour involved is very small indeed, and the results, though not of 
a sensational nature, are nevertheless somewhat extraordinary. I 
presume most people are acquainted with the ordinary garden 
variety which produces, according to the want of care it has to 
submit to, spikes with from thirteen to fourteen down to five or 
six bells of small dimensions. Under a course of common-sense 
culture this common variety may be induced to furnish spikes with 
an average of twenty large bells, and occasionally with as many as 
twenty-four to twenty-five, and in one instance I have gathered a 
spike with twenty-seven expanded and unopened buds. As a rule 
nothing gives greater satisfaction than good quantities of common 
flowers, and if these are of a quality better than the ordinary run 
it gives great pleasure to the owner or his family to distribute 
them to friends. In this way Lily of the Valley pays well, but if 
it should occur that the inevitable “ surplus ” is required to find 
its way to market, then it will be found that good flowers will be 
easily disposed of at sometimes double the price of ordinary 
produce, while poor qualities will not sell at any price. Those 
unacquainted with this phase of the question will hardly credit the 
difference in prices betwixt good and poor qualities, especially 
when there is a good supply of any article. A salesman told the 
writer the other day he had just disposed of flowers of the same 
kind, but of varying qualities, at from Id. to 4s. per dozen. 
About the treatment necessary to secure Lily of the Valley of 
the best quality, it may at once be stated that there is very little 
in it. As generally grown Lily of the Valley is treated to the 
same contemptuous care as is accorded to Horseradish—that is 
to say, the dead leaves are raked off before winter, and the bed 
then left severely alone. It is one of the plainest axioms of good 
gardening that plants must be fed, and that the foliage must be 
allowed a free development, and in most cases the buds thinned 
out. It thus follows that an occasional change of ground may be 
advantageous, and that in any case the plants should be treated to 
periodical dressings of manure, and never be allowed to become too 
thick for the full development of the foliage. The present is a 
good time to replant. A thick dressing of cow manure should be 
dug -in and the plants put out in small clumps of four or five heads 
each in lines a foot apart, and about 6 to 9 inches from each clump. 
A surfacing of manure is of value spread thinly over the beds 
when the work is finished. If the plants are weakly they may be 
left without further attention save keeping free from weeds for 
the first year ; but wherrthe beds are in good cropping condition, 
beside the winter dressing of soil or cow manure, it will be found 
of the greatest benefit to spread a good coating of slag phosphate, 
of superphosphate, or of some good proprietary mixture between 
the lines during spring. The best time is when the buds are seen 
to be on the move. The quality of the spikes will be much 
improved, while the foliage will be much larger than it left 
undressed, the next season’s crop, as a matter of course, benefiting 
to the full in increased length of spike and size of the individual 
bells. As to the length of time a bed should be allowed without 
breaking up and replanting, I do not think over five years should 
be allowed to pass. A portion should, of course, be done every 
year or second year, and thus a continued supply of fine-quality 
spikes will be secured, unless spring frosts should damage the crop. 
I have found a drenching of water in early May when the weather 
happened to be hot and dry do much good to the plants. When 
the spikes are wanted extra fine, sashes placed over the beds and 
quite close to the foliage, with sides and ends open, secure them of 
the utmost purity. 
As to the best variety, I grow a quantity of the true Berlin 
beside the common garden variety, and while the former yields 
finer bells and shorter though more equal spikes, it is much less 
prolific than the other, which produces a much greater number of 
spikes from a given piece of ground.—B. 
PIPTANTHUS NEPALENSIS. 
The Evergreen Laburnum is the popular name which has been not 
inaptly applied to this rare and little-known Indian shrub ; but though 
it bears some resemblance to one of our most common and beautiful 
flowering trees, yet it can be easily distinguished from it at a glance by 
the most casual observer, and attractive though it be it cannot rival its 
more floriferous relative in effectiveness. Still it is one of those nume¬ 
rous old inhabitants of our gardens that deserve to be rescued from the 
obscurity and neglect into which they have fallen owing to the con¬ 
tinued and extended introduction of novelties. 
It is of branching habit, but not bushy, and seems to need support 
of some kind, as it has a /rather straggling appearance. Trained to a 
wall it succeeds well, and is very pretty during May and early June, as 
it flowers abundantly when in good condition. In a few establish¬ 
ments it may be occasionally seen, but it is far from being common. 
It is quite hardy in most parts of England. It needs the protec¬ 
tion of a wall in the northern or colder districts ; but in the south it is 
rarely injured, even if planted in the open. 
The name given above is the one by which it is best known, but it has 
several synonyms, Baptisia nepalensis being one that is occasionally 
seen, and more rarely Thermopsis nepalensis and T. laburnifolia. 
Cannas.—I n favoured localities, and in dry sheltered postions, many 
of these will survive in the open, or where they are well established, 
but they require to have a good bank of ashes over them. As a rule the 
