JAPAN LILIES. 
51 
is a native of Mexico. The flowers are single, and it is even 
questionable, notwithstanding the favour in which double flowers 
are almost universally held, whether, if these flowers were double, 
the plant could possibly be more beautiful. 
THE CULTURE OF JAPAN LILIES. 
The elegance of these comparative new additions to our col¬ 
lections is of that high and chaste order as to meet the taste and 
admiration of every beholder. No wonder, then, they have so 
rapidly extended; for they are certainly desired, if not present, 
in every garden. Added to their universally admitted attractions 
of stately grandeur and brilliant colouring, may be mentioned 
their great docility in cultivation, being, in fact, manageable by 
the merest tyro, without trouble or other means than thoroughly 
good soil. I grow them in various ways—a portion are potted 
and brought forward in gentle heat, to afford an early bloom for 
the conservatory; others are also placed in pots, but allowed to 
grow in a natural manner, so as to bloom after the first named; 
while a considerable number are planted into the beds of the 
flower garden, as permanent ornaments to that part of the charge. 
I mention this to show that their culture is attainable by any 
one, let his conveniences be what they may. 
To grow them in pots for the greenhouse is the most usual 
practice, where their beauty is unquestionably heightened and 
preserved for a longer time than can be expected with those ex¬ 
posed to the vicissitudes of the season, or of others influenced by 
a forcing regimen in the early stages of their growth. For this 
purpose the bulbs should be potted in January, or the early part 
of the following month, in order that the new roots which are 
ordinarily protruded about this time, may not receive injury in 
the operation, and also that the required food may be present as 
soon as wanted. Large pots are essential to a vigorous growth : 
for a full-grown bulb, capable of flowering, the pot should be a 
foot or fourteen inches in diameter, and, if there are two or three 
bulbs together, of course a still greater size will be necessary, 
without being at all disproportionate, for the plants attain a 
