‘ 
“The December Number of 
The Rustralian Gardener 
CONTAINS— 
Flower Garden— Lucerne. Eggs ik 
October Planting 3 Lucerne for Hillside. ... 7 ; —— 
The Shadehouse 4, The Dairy-~ Wine as a Germ-Destroyer 12 
The Greenhouse ; 4, Testing Cowsas Milkers 2S Olivr Oil hace er 11 
Flowers ee 0 13 _ Profitable Pig Keeping Ns os} Orchard Notes rf 12 
Vegetable Garden. Sheepbreeding i 9 Vegetarian Diet Se Rigt 1 b} 
October Planting... . 4-5 Poultry. Government Produce Department 12 
Orchard. Ducks fo rb je, Mb Washing Milk Vessels, etc. eel 
List of Good Apple ‘Trees ca Advice about Poltry ... cog HL E 
Peaches yeas Ae yee Feeding Fowls ree syd 
of snow-like purity are greatly valued. 
Lilium auratum is annually imported in 
such quantities from Japan that it is 
wallichianum, of the trumpet section, and 
the beautiful golden Martagon, L. hansoni 
are rather expensive. They may be 
grown by those who can indulge in the 
luxury of their possessions, but the ma- 
jority prefer sorts not more expensive to 
purchase than L. auratum. In the white 
trumpet section, very cheap, also very 
Lilies. 
Juilies are the most noble of bulbous 
plants, and it is rather a disgrace to our 
horticulture that they are so mnch’ ne- 
 glected. Except the common white kind 
and the orange, it is rare to see any of 
~ these plants in an ordinary garden, and 
even the common kinds have to be looked 
for in the gardens of the cottager and beautiful, are L. longiflorum and its var- 
artisan. And yet there are po plants in iety eximeum. These flower early, long 
the country more suitable for outdoor before the auratums, grow from 18 inches 
cultivation with us, and we hope ere long~ 
to see all gardens embellished more and 
more with the best kinds of lilies. They 
‘ploom chiefly in the height of summer, 
when every lover of the garden is daily 
amony his favourites, and haye a dignity 
of character and a size which places them 
quite apart from other flowers or, herba- 
 ceous plants. They were abundant in 
English gardens more than two centuries 
ago, have been cultivated for ages in 
Buropean gardens, and are now more. 
worthy of attention than ever, in conse- 
quence of the splendid species that have 
‘heen introduced of late years. 
handsome ; but the finest in the section 
is L. harrisi, known as the Hastern ily of 
Bermuda. The flowers of the latter are 
pearly white, large, true trumpet shaped, 
strong, well-grown plants producing 
several on one stem, “Every admirer of 
lilinms should grow this acquisition. and 
the bulbs are not now expensive. Those 
named precede the auratums : for follow- 
ing them, L. lancifolium or speciosam— 
for it is sold under both names—cannot 
be overlooked. There are several varieties, 
but three distinct, beautiful and inex- 
pensive are album, roseum, and rubrum— 
the first white, the ‘second suffused and 
spotted with tose, the third being more 
deeply tinted and spotted with crimson. 
The scarlet Turk’s cap, L. chaleedonicum, 
is elegant and rich, flowering early, and 
growing 3 to 4 feet high. Very rich, also 
scarlet. with black spots 
form are the tiger lilies L.~tigrinum 
fortunei, and splendens; there is also a 
double form, . tigrinnm florepleno. 
. 
_-‘ The chaste white lily of English gardens 
has an interesting record of historical 
ssociations. It was largely employed‘ 
throughout the times of the Greeks and | 
~ Romans in their great festivals as the 
emblem of purity, and by all great old- . 
time artists in- their ‘pictures upon 
religious subjects. It is probable that one — 
of the plants which we gained from the 
East by means of the Crusaders, who 
“stocked our gardens with many beautiful 
‘things. Of the two species of more 
<modern introduction it will be questioned 
by none tifat Lilium auratum, the golden- 
rayed hill lly of Japan, is the “most 
magnificent, and has done more to create 
an enthusissm than all that has ever been 
‘said or written on their behalf. Although 
it can be forced into flower early in the’ 
stimmer, it is most attractive when grown 
4 feet high. . Of the same height, smaller, 
but very beautiful. orange, yellow, and 
_ spotted, is the Canadian swamp lily, L. 
ccanadense. “Though a little dearer than 
those named, the price is by no means 
prohibitive. A trifle more expensive still 
are L. browni and L. krameri, the first a 
noble live long and increases rapidly 
when carefully cultivated. Although pro- 
tection is not as essential in summer as in 
in anatural-way, and allowed to bloom winter, it is necessary to guacd avainst 
heat and drought as it is to guard against 
severe weather. Dry hot soil will im- 
-poverish the bulbs and prevent increase ; 
‘to obviate this it is necessary to coat the 
beds with a thin covering of strawy little 
or peat fibre. It gives all the assistance — 
August or September, while ‘its elegant 
telation, popularly known as the white 
ruinpet lily ( Lilium longiflorum), is in-— 
yaluable as a winter and spring decorative — 
plant, and is very largely grown for 
church festivals, where its immense flowers. 
} 
yes Dead ' 
to 2 feet high outdoors, and: are very - 
the better. 
P BOY in - ie - . i 
ae Sean bulbs, from 6 to 8 inches is a good — 
They are mid-season lilies, and grow about | 
absorbed by the soil, to stimulate energy 
in the bulbs when they need it in the 
spring. ‘ 
Lilies are rather dainty in their choice 
of fertilisers, Peat and leaf mould are 
acceptable to some of them, but animal 
manures, if used at all in their culture, 
must be disguised by complete decay, or 
placed at such a distance from the bulbs 
that their stimulatiug properties may not : 
be disagreebly suggestive. If lilies of all 
denominations are carefully treated in 
way they will not “run out” after the 
first season; but on the contrary, rapidly 
inerease in vigor and number. 
should thrive for many years in the same 
soil and place, and much better than if 
removed annually. The bulbs should not 
remain long out of the ground, for to be 
seccessful they must make new root — 
growth quickly, consequently the sooner 
planted after obtained the better. © 
The mixed herbaceous border. the fronts 
of shubberies, the sides or other parts of 
lawns may all be used for the successful 
cultivation of lilies. The time of planting . 
rangesjfrom October to March; but as 
earlier they can be procured and planted 
As to the depth for “planting 
medium. A few inches of prepared soil, 
both over and under the bulbs, is useful 
in many ways. Plant the smaller sorts 
They 
needed, and the winter rains dilute the 
plant food and carry it downwards, to be — 
_ every day a lily bulb is ont of the ground — 
it loses something of its strength. the 
about 6 inches apart, leaving more space 
_ for the stronger and larger species. The 
most striking mode of planting is in 
groups of three to nine bulbs in a mass, 
This system is well adapted for growing 
is far more effective than single plants 
dotted here and there. — 
more art in planting lilies than in simply 
placing the bulbs right side up. The ar- — 
rangement of the tall and low growing 
varieties should be planned carefully so 
that replanting will be unnecessary. .See- 
lilies in herbaceous borders or beds, and — 
Then there is 
that all mutilated. or decaying scales are™ 
removed before planting, and that the bed 
for most of,them should not be in sodden 
ground... On ‘light: soils, and with such — 
ange y 
species as cannot be procured until springs : 
