Hardy Perennials. 
19 
A Corner of Auratum Lilies : Bulbs planted in the spring: of 1898. 
LILIES. 
It would be difficult to name a genus of cultivated plants more generally known to flower lovers,"or 
more highly prized, than this. It is one of the grandest and most beautiful of cultivated bulbs. Most of 
the species are hardy in well-drained sandy soil, but as a precaution against very severe winters, it is best 
to cover the bulbs with some protecting material in order to prevent too deep freezing, and also to pre¬ 
vent injury from sudden changes which might injure the bulbs. 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 be 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 deprived of their roots, are much more likely to bloom the first year. 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 
