098 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 1], 1903. 
Lessons Taught. 
These facts teach us that although different and sometimes 
very large amounts of the typical mineral constituents are 
taken up from the soil by the growth of various fruit trees, 
yet there is not a great export of any in the marketable product 
of fruit, excepting of phosphoric acid and potash; and ex¬ 
perience has shown that these may be advantageously supplied 
in purchased manures. The larger part of the essential mineral 
constituents is stored up in the structure of the trees for the 
production of leaves, flowers, and fruit. The essential loss to 
the soil of mineral components is thus comparatively small, but 
the very fact that the different fruit trees, as well as kitchen 
vegetables, require for their growth not only veiy different 
quantities' of potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, but require 
these to be available within the soil in different conditions, 
both of union with other substances and of distribution in the 
soil, points to the conclusion that if productiveness is to be 
maintained these essential elements must not be overlooked, 
and more particularly when they are considered in connection 
with the element nitrogen, without which no plant, whether 
kitchen vegetable, flower, or fruit, can be produced. 
(To be continued.) 
Lilium giganteum. 
I have read with great interest your article on a Gloucester¬ 
shire wild garden in this week’s “ G.W.” Tire owner of this most, 
interesting garden is delighted with his Lilium giganteum, and 
calls it the Queen-Empress of the Lily family. I quite agree 
with him that it is one of our grandest Lilies, and should be 
better known and oftener seen. With this object in view, I 
send a copy of a photo that was. taken, of one that I flowered 
upwards of thirty years ago, when gardener to the. late Sir 
William Jardine, Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire. Sir William was 
so pleased with the specimen that, lie sent for a. photographer 
and had it taken. Your humble servant standing- alongside 
will give you an idea, of its proportions. It was flowered in a. 
conservatory, but brought out and placed in front of an old 
vinery that was soon to be taken down, so as to: preserve a 
photo of both. 
With your leave I will now give you the history of some 
that I afterwards flowered, planted in the open air, and one 
that I exhibited at a. flower show in, Edinburgh. I think one 
of the reasons that this Lily is not oftener seen is that the 
same bulb flowers only once, but before that time comes there 
are generally plenty of young bulbs produced round the old 
ones, which will flower in from four to six years. Some will 
think that this is a, long time to> wait, but. they are well worth 
waiting for. 
When leaving Jardine Hall and going to Broadmeadows, Ber¬ 
wickshire, I took- some small bulb® with me; these I potted 
in small pots and planted out. the following year, selecting a 
sheltered place close to' a. shrubbery, where they could be well 
seen from the mansion house windows. As they are not like 
other Lilies, but planted on the surface, I always protected 
them in some way during the winter, covering the bulb with 
dried fern, sand, or some other material, removing this in 
spring when they began to grow, and putting round each a 
circle of branches, mats, or anything that would protect them 
from spring frosts ; treating them, in fact, as half hardy 
subjects. 
In course of time they all flowered, and I need not. say wha.t 
a grand sight it was. They are also sweetly fragrant (not 
like the heavy sickly smell of L. aura,turn). By this time I 
had a. good supply of bulbs; some of which I gave to the 
villagers, and most of them flowered in their gardens and 
people came long distances to see them. I tried hard for 
several years to get one in bloom for the Edinburgh Summer 
"Rose Show, at which I was: a , keen and successful exhibitor, but 
for a long time they were either too scon or too late; but at 
last I did get one so near the time that by shading from sun¬ 
shine for some time before the show was likely to answer mv 
purpose. 
It will perhaps, be of interest to some of your readers if I 
give a few particulars of the pilgrimage of this queen of Lilies 
to the Edinburgh Show. At any rate, it will show the diffi¬ 
culties gardeners have sometimes to overcome before thev can 
place their work of years on the exhibition table. I was verv 
proud of my Lily, as I had managed to get it in perfection 
to the very day. It was almost as fine a. specimen as the one 
in the photo-. There it stood in all its stately grandeur : would 
I be able to exhibit it in Edinburgh like that? I was seven 
miles from a railway station, and if it was to go safe, must 
carry it all the way—that was plain. I had serious thoughts 
of just, taking the head of bloom, with, perhaps, 3 or 4 ft. 
of stem, but I could not think of mutilating my Lily Queen in 
that way. Besides, this would have taken away all her under¬ 
clothing of leaves and spoiled her character altogether, so I 
came to the conclusion that she must go- as she was or not "o 
at all. 
The night before the show I commenced operations bv cut¬ 
ting the stem clean through close to the bulb, then placing it- 
in water in an old preserved meat tin, stuffing some sphagnum 
round so as to preserve the water and keep it from spilling, as 
I intended it to travel in water all the way. Then a strong 
stake was tied up the stem; each flower was tied up in tissue 
paper and wadding and looped to the stem ; every leaf was 
also carefully tied up as close to the stem as I could get 
them. By the time this: was all done it was time for me to 
begin my seven miles tramp to the station, as my train (the 
Flying Scotsman) was due at 4 o’clock in the morning. I was 
fortunate in. getting a good morning, but. had it rained cats 
and dogs her majesty would have had to- go just the same. 
I was just in time to catch my train, but here a hitch took 
place that I had never taken into my calculations. This queen 
of the Himalayas avas too- proud and too tall for a common 
railway carriage. The only way that she- would or could 
travel was with her head out. of the window, but this the 
station-master and guard would not allow. I must take it 
along to the luggage van, and look sharp about it. So I made 
a rush for the guard’s van, and sat down on a. box with the Lily 
across my knee; but here again I was told that was against 
the rules, and that I must come out; but the signal had been 
given, and off we went. When I got. to the show I gave it. 
fresh water, got a. large flower-pot filled with sphagnum, 
plunged my Lily in it, undid all the tying, took away the stake, 
and there was my stately queen of the Himalayas looking as 
happy, fresh and beautiful as when growing on her native lawn 
in far-away Berwickshire. It was greatly admired during the 
show, and the committee awarded me a, Special Prize. 
A. McMillan. 
3, Cochran Terrace, Edinburgh. 
The Oldest Tree in the World. 
The Cypress of Soma, in Lombardy, is said to- be the oldest 1 
tree in the world of which there is authentic record. It is 
supposed to have been planted in the year - of the birth of 
Christ, but the Abbe Belize tells us that there is a chronicle 
at Milan which speaks of it as a grown tree in the time of 
Julius. Caesar. A rival to' this is the Eucalyptus, or Gum Tree, 
near the foot of Mount Wellington: in Tasmania, which is 250 1 
ft. high, and fully 30 ft- in diameter. A gigantic trunk in 
the province of Oxaca, in Mexico, measures 200 ft. in cir¬ 
cumference at its base, and according to an average rate of! 
growth its, age would exceed 3,000 years. Cypress trees in 
parts of America, are veiy long-lived ; by counting the con¬ 
centric rings where they have been sawn through, it has been 
estimated that 1,600 years is no uncommon period of growth 
with them. 
