August 7, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
773 
especially is this true of the rarer species, which, per¬ 
haps, are not quite as easy of cultivation, or, to he 
more strictly correct, their requirements are not so 
generally well understood by the great majority of 
those who so ardently admire them. 
No hardy plant border can be complete without its 
complement of this family, for what have we possessing 
so many charms, so much variety, so brilliant 
or effective colours, and producing flowers from 
early in June till the autumn frosts defy them. To 
have this extended flowering period, however, a rigid 
selection is necessary of those kinds which follow each 
other in quick succession, and so keep up one con¬ 
tinuous display for several months ; and if this be not 
known to those who require them for such a purpose, 
the columns of this paper are open, I feel sure, for sup¬ 
plying the information, which, I doubt not, would be 
speedily forthcoming. This magnificent genus has many 
points in favour of the general cultivation of its members, 
among which maybe named their adaptability in some 
instances to any ordinary garden soil, their usefulness for 
pot culture, and their unequalled value in a cut state. For 
pot culture there is an almost endless number of forms 
adapted, and as many of these stand forcing fairly 
well, it is possible to have them in flower in the green¬ 
house some weeks before those in the open ground 
expand their lovely waxy petals. When I say forcing, 
1 do not infer that amount of artificial heat generally 
accepted by the term, as this would be highly injurious 
to them, and would not only force the flower out of 
the bulbs, but at the same time the life also. But 
their greatest beauty after all, perhaps, is in the border 
among other plants, where they may remain for years 
undisturbed, and where they will annually increase in 
strength, and the number of flowering spikes and 
flowers in the same proportion. 
A word of caution as to planting may be in season. 
When planting hardy plants it is too often the rule 
to dig a hole with a spade, “drop” in the bulb or 
whatever it may be, and covering it in, to expect to 
see it in the same perfection as neighbour so-and-so’s, 
who takes such a great amount of pains in this simple, 
though primary, point. The ground, if only for a 
single plant, a new comer it may be, should be well 
dug and manured, according to the state of the soil, 
the manure should be well incorporated with the soil, 
and then a full measure of success may be expected 
and forthcoming. What if the operation for planting 
an individual in this way, occupies half an hour, 
isn’t it far better that it should be so, than cramming 
it in the soil, and ever after presenting a miserable and 
neglected appearance ? the answer is obvious to all. 
The Lilium, as regards manure, is rather changeable, 
though somewhat decided from a different standpoint, 
for it may be taken as a generally accepted fact that 
the peat and bog-loving section do not require manure 
at all in the soil, though they are benefitted by it in 
liquid form at certain seasons, while the commoner kinds, 
so well suited for the border, delight in an abundance 
of it. I prefer at all times using manure thoroughly 
decomposed, whether it be from the stable or the cow¬ 
shed ; the latter I prefer on light sandy soils, placing 
it at least two inches below the bulbs and where the 
roots are sure to find it, and also a smaller dose about 
2 ins. above the bulbs, the latter to benefit the plant 
at flowering time, when many species and varieties 
emit quantities of stem-roots. 
Another place where some of the more stately Lilies 
are so much at home, is the Rhododendron-bed or 
border, and to produce effect should be planted in 
clumps, here and there ; such a position is especially 
adapted for those tender kinds which the nipping frosts 
of spring so frequently disfigure and injure for the rest 
of the season ; the shelter afforded them by the Rhodo¬ 
dendrons is all they need, and as these pass out of 
flower, the Lilies, with that dignified grace which 
makes them so remarkable, will soon be filling the air 
with their delicious fragrance. In a cut state many 
of them are highly valuable, and it is an interesting 
fact, that nearly all the buds expand in water ; in this 
respect they are similar to the German Irises. I will 
now endeavour briefly to give some of the most worthy 
members of this valuable and extensive genus, taking 
them in the order in which they flower, so that the 
amateurs and others requiring a selection for flowering, 
during any given month from June to October, both 
inclusive, may have the needed information at hand. 
The first, then, in the flowering field is 
Lilium tyrenatcum, with orange-red flowers grow¬ 
ing about 3 ft. high, when they have become estab¬ 
lished. In company with this comes the yellow- 
flowered variety, L. pyrenaicum flavum ; it is a good 
yellow, rather thickly studded with black spots. Both 
these are very good, and showy and useful, inasmuch 
as they are first to flower. They succeed well in any 
ordinary soil—in fact, instances are known to the 
writer, of these growing and flowering well annually 
in very strong soil, and which, as a consequence, is 
not over rich. According to the season itself, this 
section of the Martagon group, all of which have their 
flowers distinctly recurved when well expanded, flower 
during the latter days of May and early June ; and in 
close succession comes the lovely 
Lilium tenuifolium, with fiery scarlet flowers. 
This is a perfect gem among the dwarf early-flowering 
species ; its average height is from 18 ins. to 2 ft., and 
its narrow and graceful shining leaves impart to it an 
elegance which few Lilies possess. It is peculiarly 
sweet-scented, not an overpowering fragrance, but 
delicious and enjoyable. It is well adapted for pot 
culture, and delights in a free rich open soil. Of its 
effectiveness in small groups, the reader can imagine 
readily, when I say that it is capable of carrying as 
many as twenty of its vivid flowers on a spike. This 
generally commences flowering during the second week 
in June. Following this closely, we have the lovely 
Lilium Washingtonianum, with white lilac-shaded 
flowers. It is a truly handsome and graceful Lily, 
attaining 3 ft. to 5 ft. high, and a peat lover ; partial 
shade and moisture seem also to suit it, and a free 
Lilium "Washingtonianum. 
drainage is absolutely essential in its successful culture. 
There is also the purple-flowered form of this, L. 
"VVashingtonianum purpureum, also known under the 
synonym of L. rubescens : in the first instance, the 
flowers are white, changing to rose in their youthful 
days, but assuming a purplish hue when they reach 
maturity, and which they retain till they ultimately 
fade and die. These are both highly fragrant and 
beautiful Lilies, and should be found in all collections 
of hardy plants. In my next I will endeavour to con¬ 
tinue these notes, taking them all in the order in 
which they flower.— J. 
-- 
ROSES AND ROSE-GROWING. 
At the recent Bath Show, Mr. T. W. Girdlestone 
gave a short address on the subject of Roses and Rose¬ 
growing, the substance of which he has communicated 
to The Gardeners' Magazine as follows :—It is with 
the utmost diffidence that I have accepted the in¬ 
vitation of your committee to address you for a few 
minutes on the subject of our queen of flowers, for two 
sufficiently obvious reasons : First, that I am not used 
to speaking in public, and therefore little likely 
to do justice either to my subject or to my audience ; 
and secondly, that I must appear to many of you, a 
very tyro in the art of Rose-growing. But if I have 
not been engaged in the special culture of the Rose for 
so long a period as some of my fellow exhibitors, I 
have seen enough to convince me that the particular 
conditions of soil which are so often insisted upon as 
necessary, are not really essential to the successful 
cultivation of Roses. I believe that climate is a far 
more important factor in the conditions advantageous 
to Rose-growing than soil, if only because it is more 
completely beyond our control. For instance, in the 
immediate neighbourhood of large manufacturing 
centres, where the air never seems clear of chemical 
impurities, the satisfactory cultivation of Roses out of 
doors certainly is impracticable. But, given a clear 
atmosphere, if the soil be too light or too heavy, means 
can be found to remedy the defect ; if the situation be 
unduly exposed or too closely sheltered, either condition 
may be modified. It is notorious that a rich loam is 
the soil best adapted to Rose-growing—that is to say, 
is the soil best calculated to produce first-rate Rose- 
blooms with the minimum expenditure of trouble on 
the part of the cultivator ; for it may be accepted as 
an axiom that the production of the most beautiful 
Roses is not to be spontaneously effected by any soil 
or situation under the sun, but it is in direct proportion 
to the amount of personal care and individual attention 
bestowed at all periods of their growth upon the rose 
trees. 
The best soil for Roses is a rich loam ; if, however, 
the soil be light and sandy or peaty, it may be greatly 
improved by dressing it in autumn with loam or clay, 
to be left lying on the surface until quite broken down 
by frost and weather, and then well worked in in the 
spring. Clay is not beneficial to light land if dug in 
in wet clods in winter ; as when so treated it never 
mixes with the surrounding soil ; but when the clods, 
after lying on the ground through the winter frosts, are 
thoroughly dried by the subsequent March winds, they 
may be easily pulverised with the back of a hoe, and 
will then mix evenly with the native soil when dug in. 
If the soil be a very heavy solid clay, ashes or burnt 
earth may be advantageously worked in to make it 
more friable. 
"Where the soil is poor, some Roses may be most ad¬ 
vantageously grown on their own roots, in which state 
many are extremely long-lived ; but it does not seem 
so easy to obtain first-rate blooms from own-root Roses ; 
and, owing to the much greater number of worked 
plants which can be produced from a given quantity of 
material, the latter will probably continue in the large 
majority. On the question of what is the best stock 
for Roses, there may be some difference of opinion, and 
it will be advisable to mention the qualifications of 
each of the four forms of stock in general use. These 
are the common brier : (1) as a standard, (2) as a seed¬ 
ling, (3) as a cutting, and (4) the Manetti Rose. 
The first is recommended by those who no longer like 
stooping, and by ladies who like to attend to their own 
Rose trees themselves without the risk of getting their 
dresses torn. Standard Rose trees are also useful for 
raising the back of large masses of plants, and for this 
purpose are, perhaps, most to be commended as pot- 
plants for effective grouping among or behind dwarfs in 
the conservatory. The objections to standards are, 
that the stem is liable to be broken by high winds, 
that the head is liable to be broken down by snow, and 
that, singly, they are, perhaps the least picturesque 
form of tree known to horticulture. They also incur 
the greatest danger from winter frosts ; for since, in 
the South of England at any rate, the cold is rarely 
sufficiently intense to injure Rose trees below the ground 
line, when dwarf Roses are frostbitten they often shoot 
up again from just below the surface of the soil; but 
in the case of standards, if the part above ground, 
whether stem or scion, be killed, there is nothing below 
but briar to replace it. From these causes standards 
are commonly short-lived and unsatisfactory. I hey 
will, however, continue to be grown for two reasons ; 
first, because, as maidens, they often give exceedingly 
fine flowers, which come in a little sooner than those 
on dwarf plants, and are thus especially useful to 
nurserymen for the earlier shows j secondly, because no 
speculative builder seems to consider his semi-detached 
villa architecturally complete and ready for the market 
without the twelve standard Rose tiees set each in its 
little ring on the grass beside the front drive. 
The second and third stocks mentioned may be 
considered together, the chief differences between the 
briar seedling and cutting being in the propagation 
and working of the stocks. I may as well say at once 
that if I were to begin Rose-growing again, on what¬ 
ever soil, I would plaut nothing but dwarfs on briar 
seedling or cutting. Dwarf plants on briar are long- 
lived, hardy, and from not beginning to grow quite 
so early in the year as manetti, are less liable to injury 
from spring frosts. Manetti are sometimes recom¬ 
mended for light soils owing to the fine fibrous nature 
