HARDY PERENNIALS. 
19 
A Corner of Anratnm Lilies: Bulbs planted in the spring: of 1898 ; photographed August, 1898 . 
Lilies. 
No group of cultivated bulbs holds a more important position in horticulture than this grant 
genus. Most of the species are hardy in well drained soil, but we find by experience that the less frost 
the bulbs have to endure, the stronger they seem to be. Even the kinds native to New England are better 
and stronger if covered to exclude severe frost. A covering of fine hay, a few inches of leaves, or two or 
three inches of strawy manure, as it comes from the horse stables, put over the bulbs in autumn, will be 
very useful as a protection. The manure will he doubly beneficial, for it will serve both as a fertilizer and 
to keep out frost. Some of the stronger-growing Lilies are well suited to planting among shrubbery. 
A most important item in the growing of all Lilies is the combination of good drainage with plenty 
of moisture. They require much moisture during the blooming season ; still, a soil not well drained sel¬ 
dom seems to suit them. Much good can be done in the adding of sand, leaf mold or turf-loam (which is 
always good for the Lily), but if good drainage is not given many species will not thrive, 
Lilies often thrive much better the second year after planting, for the reason that if they 
are not taken fresh from the ground, some or all of their roots have been lost, or dried, and their scales, 
also, may have become shriveled. This is too often the case with imported or store bulbs if the storing has 
not been in a cellar and in soil. Lilies imported in their natural soil, or in damp sphagnum, not allowed 
to become dry, and not deprixed of their roots, are much more likely to bloom the first \ear. In purchas¬ 
ing Lilies, it is well to insist upon having only firm and solid bulbs If they have been wintered 
in a cellar, it should have been in sand or loam, in tight boxes, so that the bulbs could not have shrunken 
or dried. Bulbs wintered in this way are often about as solid as when wintered in the ground. They 
may be better than if set in the ground in autumn and exposed to the rains, which often injure late- 
planted bulbs. 
The best time to set Lilies is in autumn, it is generally believed, but I have had quite as good 
success with spring setting. If they are taken fresh from the nursery before they have advanced too far 
in growth, they do nicely. The reason why so many believe that Lijies should be set only in autumn is 
because the main supply has been from store bulbs. Few dealers keep their stocks in the ground, and 
