74 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 2, 1886. 
By carefully studying tlie nature of the plant, he 
came to the conclusion that there was a grand future 
for it as a greenhouse decorative subject, and as an out¬ 
door summer bedding plant; and that his conclusions 
have long since been justified, those who have had an 
opportunity of seeing the Forest Hill collection must 
have been fully convinced. The tuberous Begonia is 
one of the flowers of the day, and is destined to remain 
so for some time to come, because it can not only be 
grown by those who have greenhouses, but any amateur 
can have his bed by simply planting the tubers in a rich 
soil, the same as he would plant Potatos, and protecting 
the plants from frost as they come through the ground, 
by placing a flower pot over them at night. It is not 
our intention now, however, to write the history of the 
improvement of the tuberous Begonia as Mr. Laing has 
made it—that can be done on another occasion ; our main 
object to-day is to put before our readers a brief outline 
of the career of a successful florist, who, during a well- 
spent life, has been the means of gratifying the tastes 
of thousands of his fellow men, and created a love for 
florists’ flowers in many who had not known the 
pleasures to be enjoyed from their cultivation. Mr. 
Laing, we should add, has been a member of the Floral 
Committee and a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural 
Society for a quarter of a century, and that ho enjoys 
the esteem of troops of friends goes without saying, 
for that is the case with all true florists. 
-- 
NOTES ON LILIUMS— VI. 
At p. 59, your correspondent, Mr. Tyler, makes 
enquiries respecting the number of flowers known to 
have been produced on fasciated stems of Lilium 
auratum ; and seeing that my closing remarks in my 
last chapter were confined to this species, and with a 
promise to continue them in the present chapter, I will 
not make any apology for answering Mr. Tyler’s query 
here. It runs thus : “ I should be glad to know if 
more than seventy-two blooms have been produced on 
one stem.” My answer in brief is : Yes. 
I can myself testify to this species bearing nearly 
double that number of flowers, or, more strictly, 
miserable representations of the flowers of this truly 
noble and imposing species ; for there is no grander 
ornament among hardy bulbs than this, the golden- 
rayed Lily of Japan. It was in the year 1876, that 
this sent forth its disfigured stem and its crowded mass 
of flower buds ; all who saw it regarded it as “ peculiar, ” 
but none of the many visitors admired it; not so, how¬ 
ever, with another plant of the same species flowering, 
at the same time, in.another part of the garden. This 
only carried ten flowers, and the maximum height was 
7 ft. 6 ins.; the blossoms individually measured, on an 
average, 10 ins. across, and were the admiration of all 
who saw them. 
My experience of Lilies with fasciated stems is, that 
they are not satisfactory, and certainly 70 or 100 
blossoms huddled together can hardly be regarded as 
either ornamental or picturesque. I doubt not, but the 
plant to which Mr. Tyler refers, has only small 
blossoms, and not such as one is wont to find on good 
flowering auratums. Mr. Tyler will readily see that I 
prefer quality to quantity, and I doubt not but that 
many Lily-growers are like-minded. What I regard as 
my very best auratum of the present season, carried 
twenty-one fine flowers, wdiich averaged 9 ins. across ; 
the bulb -was planted in a 9-in. pot, and produced three 
flowering stems, the full height from the pot Was 
2 ft. 4 ins. It was of fine substance, very heavily 
spotted, the sepals well imbricated, and having a 
reddish crimson band through each of the petals. The 
identical plant to which I refer came under the notice 
of the Editor of this paper, and by whom it was much 
admired. 
Ho Lily, perhaps, embraces so great a number of 
forms as does Lilium auratum ; indeed, so variable is it 
that it is difficult to find two spotted alike, the result 
of which is that many fine forms of sterling merit are 
selected from the batch, and -which, deservedly, fetch 
good prices. As regards the variability of this Lily, it 
is such that, where they are grown in quantity, they 
may be had in flower for several weeks in succession ; 
in height they vary from 18 ins. or 20 ins. to 6 ft., 
while in colour they vary from pure white with pale 
yellow bands and a few spots, to thickly crimson- 
spotted flowers, and the band running through the 
petals from yellow to deep crimson. I need hardly 
add that the last-named are most conspicuous among 
the rest, and are worth obtaining good stocks of. 
Among the varieties of this beautiful Japanese Lily, 
none can equal the two to which I shall next refer ; 
the first of which is 
Lilium auratum virginale. —A majestic Lily, 
attaining a height of 6 ft.; it is as remarkable for its 
gigantic proportions of height and circumference of 
stem as it is for its noble flowers, and the numbers 
■which are produced from strong flowering bulbs. The 
flowers are white, of a rather creamy hue, and having 
a pale yellow band on each petal; this usually bears up¬ 
wards of thirty large handsome blossoms. Another 
variety of L. auratum is known as 
Lilium auratum platyphyllum, which is, in short, 
a gigantic form of the type ; it does not materially 
differ from the original in the colour of its flowers, but 
in its remarkable size and the stout overlapping of its 
petals, it is simply unique. I have, this season, had 
its massive blossoms measure 11 ins. and 12 ins. across, 
and I have reason to believe that, when fully estab¬ 
lished (for it may be observed that the bulbs, pro¬ 
ducing these mouster flowers, were only planted in 
April last), it will even exceed the great size here given. 
To all growers of this extensive and lovely genus, the 
advent of this, the largest Lily known, will be wel¬ 
comed As with auratum, so with the two varieties above- 
named, they all rejoice in light sandy loam, or loam 
and peat in equal parts. For another magnificent form 
of this Lily, we have only to turn to the one known as 
Lilium auratum rubro-vittatum. —An exceed¬ 
ingly handsome and rare Lily ; it is known among the 
Japanese as Banc. e. Sage, or King of the Lilies, an 
honour in which all who have seen it will heartily 
concur ; as is depicted in the varietal names here em¬ 
ployed, the usual band of yellow is replaced by one of 
deep rich scarlet, which contrasts in a remarkable 
manner with the white ground of the petals upon 
which numerous spots of a rich reddish hue are disposed, 
making in all the grandest Lily the world has yet pro¬ 
duced. It is equally hardy as the rest, but owing to 
its exceptional beauty and rarity, all possible care 
should be taken of it in spring, that the late nipping 
and often destructive frosts do not cut it down. No 
time is better for planting these forms of auratum 
than the present, for, unless it be a few very late 
planted or w r eakly varieties, these, have now ceased 
flowering, and as soon as the flowers fade, they may be 
transplanted without further delay. I urge this early 
planting more particularly as referring to home-grown 
bulbs ; imported ones, which are divested of root and 
branch at home ere they are sent to this country, may 
be planted any time from October to the end of March. 
At this season of the year we are naturally expecting 
the usual autumnal rains, and which, considering the 
long-continued drought which we have experienced, 
and -which has caused many of our finest hardy 
perennials at this season to drop and fade for lack of 
moisture, will have the effect of starting many Lilies 
quickly into root-action, and if these with their newly- 
formed roots have to be disturbed later on, it must end 
in the loss of many, if not all, of the fibres, besides 
exposing the bulbs to vicissitudes from which they 
might well be spared. Many amateurs do not order 
their Lilies till early in spring, which is not at all 
favourable for the transplanting of this genus, and not 
infrequently ends in failure and disappointment, con¬ 
sequent upon the check thus received ; aud to those 
who may be about to enter upon Lily culture for the 
first time, I may say that there is nothing more im¬ 
portant and more consistent with ultimate success than 
early autumn planting. All the taller species and 
forms are benefited by deep planting (about C ins. to 
the base of the bulbs), as at this depth they do not 
suffer so quickly in dry hot weather in summer.— J. 
■ -- 
WALLFLOWERS. 
I HAVE seldom seen these hardy biennials looking 
better than this season. But the other day a market 
gardener invited me to look at his breadth of blood-red 
plants, and I found a huge piece of several acres in ex¬ 
tent, all big bushy plants, some 12 ins. high and as 
much through, and so generally even as to look as if 
mown over. These plants will begin to flower freely 
soon, and if the winter be open will give a supply of 
flowers all through it. These are from an early Feb¬ 
ruary sowing, the plants being got out into fairly good 
soil early in the summer, and since have been kept 
very clean. This market grower regards a breadth of 
"Wallflowers, such as this, to be worth far more to him 
than any vegetable crop, and will be productive of some 
return over a long season, finishing up about the 
middle of April next. 
Those who wish to embark in the cultivation of 
Wallflowers for market should obtain seed from some 
good high-coloured strain, for colour means value, and 
an early-blooming strain is also more profitable than a 
late one. It is of the greatest consequence that seed 
be sown early, to enable plants to be got out early. 
The plants should not be put out amongst other crops, 
except Lettuces, Strawberries, or some similar crop 
w'hich will not interfere with the "Wallflowers when 
full grown. The finest of all the yellow kinds is the 
rich golden Bedfont yellow, a very compact robust sort, 
distinguished by its very dark Igreen foliage. It is 
rather taller than the Belvoir yellow, and much dwarfer 
than the golden, which reaches a height of 13 ins., is 
very erect, and has pointed pale 'green leafage. Bel¬ 
voir yellow is the latest bloomer of all, but being so 
dwarf makes good masses. The golden does well for 
centres or big beds, but the Bedfont yellow, in colour 
and habit, is a fine companion variety to the blood-red. 
— A. D. 
- *->=£«•» - 
Hardening Miscellany. 
c jb 
Fuchsias in the Garden. —A pretty little 
garden, in which the use of standard and trained 
Fuchsias, standard scarlet Pelargoniums, and standard 
Petunias is displayed, is that of Mr. Paice, The Limes, 
Egliaru. A row of closely-clipped Limes runs along just 
inside the railings; seen beneath them are the mag- 
nificently-floWered Fuchsias and other plants named, 
with a few Sunflowers in the background. So densely 
are the plants flowered that the whole of the space is 
filled with colour. Among the best Fuchsias are the old 
Rose of Castile and Souvenir de Chiswick. The path to 
the door has arches covered with Fuchsias, hanging in 
great profusion, the first, a white variety, being like 
Mrs. Marshall Improved. We have seen nothing like 
Mr. Paice’s garden this season, and we recommend our 
readers to take care of their old Fuchsias and standard 
Pelargoniums, and give them a trial out of doors next 
year. 
Earwigs and Chrysanthemums.—I have 
been waiting for further evidence against the Earwigs, 
but none appears to be forthcoming; and what has 
been given so far has failed to convince me that the 
Earwig is the rogue and vagabond that the case for the 
prosecution has tried to make him appear. Surely, the 
Earwig is not endowed with such au amount of instinct 
that he can know or distinguish friends from foes, or 
possesses such a delicate sense ■ of honour that he will 
not injure tliose who are kind to him, but only such as 
would annihilate him ! And yet, if the evidence 
already given does not point to such a conclusion, to 
what does it lead, or what does it indicate ? I and 
other interested readers are bound to accept tho good 
faith of your correspondents who say the Earwig does 
injure their Chrysanthemums ; and especially to con¬ 
sider the testimony of your correspondent who says he 
has caught one or more in the act of eating some part 
of the Chrysanthemum. Since I read that statement I 
have made diligent search for any injury that could by 
any impartial reasoning bo laid to the charge of the 
Earwig, and I must say that I have failed to find any 
such injury, and that notwithstanding the fact that the 
insects are more numerous with me this season than 
ever, I have not destroyed one. My present experience 
is only a continuation of past experience in regard to 
this matter ; but I null now sav that although I will 
trust them with my growing plants, I will not trust 
them with exhibition blooms, nor any Chrysanthemum 
flowers that I wish to preserve uninjured, for there is 
no doubt they will occasionally sever the petals against 
the calyx and disc, which is an undesirable operation 
for the cultivator. It is strange, in my opinion, that 
the evidence on this question should be so conflicting, 
and perhaps there is more truth than at first appears in 
the remarks by Mr. A. G. Hull at pp. 5S and 59 ; but 
in this garden there is any amount of choice in “ feeding 
grounds,” and yet the Earwigs are present in large 
numbers on the Chrysanthemums ! Personally, I 
think the Earwig, during the growing and “bud¬ 
setting ” period, does far more good than harm to the 
Chrysanthemums ; and certainly my plants were never 
so free from green-fly as they have been this year. I 
