May 22. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
129 
A misconstruction may be the result of misconception, but 
a wilful or a negligent alteration is quite a different affair. 
I hope be will recognise these mistakes for liis own sake, as, 
with so little regard to correctness, any writer’s character 
may be made to appear obnoxious and vile. I hope he will 
also give me credit for sincerity, when I assure him that if 
he waits until my advent, “ club in hand,” as he supposes 
1 shall come, he will have to remain in “ durance vile ” 
a very long time, as I would rather “ run a mile than fight 
a minute,” under any circumstances which would allow the 
possibility of avoiding such an unfriendly meeting. 
“ Rusticus A. B.,” quotes passages of Scripture to prove 
that the advertiser was justified, when he said that his Vine 
“ Don’t know how to shank;" but my critic strangely forgets 
(hat the language of Scripture is symbolical and to enforce 
truth, whilst the advertiser’s is merely an untrue assertion 
to promote his own gain. 
Whilst “ Rusticus A. B.” admits, in one paragraph of 
his ebulliton, that the expression which T took for my 
motto may be rather “ an advertising phrase,” may not be 
in very “ good taste,” nor a very “ choice expression,” still, 
the erroneous view he has taken of my subject, leads him 
to condemn the means I have used, without offering any 
suggestion as to what better plan might have be^n adopted 1 
in staying the gradual ingress of false and misapplied 
language in the recommendation of a gardener’s wares. 
But my critic’s greatest annoyance seems to arise from 
what he calls my “ overbearing tone ” and I should be fully 
prepared to agree with him, if my observations had been 
addressed to any particular individual or class of individuals. 
But they were not, being addressed to the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener generally. Style is a matter of opinion, 
and not involving principle, therefore, is not worth differing 
about. 
In conclusion, I beg to assure “ Rusticus A. B.,” that 
lie has made much to do about little. I placed myself in 
juxta position with a false principle when I wrote the first 
article on this subject, and my pen is again called into use 
to repudiate the charges “ Rusticus A. B.” would impute 
to me. If further evidence is necessary to prove to him 
there is only one right way to maintain that “right 
standard,” I will cheerfully, but not abusively, place him in 
the way of obtaining the same limited amount of infor¬ 
mation as I possess, so that he may learn for himself, and 
having well weighed and measured his subject, judge what 
amount of atonement was due from you for the insertion 
of an article which was penned with “ good will ” towards 
all men, and a desire to suppress an evil measure.—C. B. S., 
Jersey. 
GUERNSEY LILY CULTURE. 
If the Guernsey Lily roots would flower annually, and 
gratify your querist “ J. S. K.,” at page 15, they would cause a 
severe loss to the inhabitants of the island of Guernsey, 
many of whom are interested in what is, on account of its 
importance, called “ The Lily Trade." He is quite correct 
in supposing the task he proposes to himself a difficult 
| one. The ouly plan by which I have known it to be j 
! successful, has been in the encouragement of a full develop- ; 
ment of the foliage; he states, they are now coming up. 
The better the foliage the more perfect the growth of the 
root. 
I recollect reading an article, in some periodical, wherein 
the writer congratulated himself in having succeeded in 
flowering them. The plan he had adopted was planting 
them in a shallow box, and keeping them in a moist stove 
during the winter, where they made a vigorous growth, 
which he gradually dried off, by withholding moisture, and 
placing the box containing them in a sunny exposition 
during the summer months. I have never proved the 
experiment myself, but think it feasible, with the assistance 
of a hotbed as well as with a stove. 
Supposing the bulbs' 1 J. S. K.” has to be perfectly healthy, 
sufficiently large to produce flowers two years consecutively, 
and that they are planted in light, loamy soil, containing an 
admixture of sand, the situation being under the shelter of 
a southern wall, the plan adopted in Guernsey might be . 
tried, care being taken to protect the foliage during the 
winter months. I think protecting that part of the border 
wherein they are planted with a cold frame during the 
winter months would be productive of a better result than 
growing them in pots, as they seem to be injured by removal. 
The Guernsey people prefer starving them to transplanting 
them. Should they, however, be grown in pots, they would 
require the same care and attention as the other Am aryl lube, 
attention being requisite during their period of vegetation, 
i.e., from September to May. 
I would not promise “ J. S. K.” that he would be successful 
if he adopted either of the plans 1 have suggested. I have 
heard it asserted that the same Guernsey Lily root never 
does flower a second time, and that it is only when the 
offsets have attained sufficient size that they produce flowers; 
but I am bappy to think we are not obliged to believe all 
that we hear, as the person making this assertion was in 
error in this particular case. I have flowered the same 
root two years consecutively, and others, to my knowledge, 
have done the same thing. I have also cut roots across the 
middle, and the cross section has shown that the roots grew 
from two centres, and I know of no reason why such a root 
should not produce the flower-spike two years consecutively, 
even if the theory be correct that the species does not so 
generally. 1 have seen them with two blooming spikes pro¬ 
ceeding from the same bulb at the same time, and such roots 
would be as likely to produce them two years consecutively, 
if left unmoved as both together. 
Frankly, unless your correspondent is desirous of doing 
something unusual, regardless of trouble, it is certainly not 
worth his while to carry out his scheme, as, to make the 
best of it, it is a precarious aud likely to be a very unsatis¬ 
factory one. In the favoured Island of Guernsey, from the 
numbers planted, there are but comparatively few that 
bloom, and they are obtainable, most seasons, at the London 
seed shops under sixpence each. 
For any further information I would refer “ J. S. Iv.” to the 
remarks made on this plant in No. 200, page 85 of The 
Cottage Gardener.—Ajiicus, Jersey. 
NEW PLANTS. 
PlTTOsrORUM flayum {Yellow-flowered Pillosporum). 
This is a very unspecifically named plant, for the great 
majority of the species in this genus are yellow-flowered. 
It is a moderate-sized, much-branched, evergreen, green- 
