jOURh^AL  OP  mUTIQULTVm  AND  OOTPAGP  GARDPNNR. 
July  2S,  IsSl 
?6 
clomp  in  my  garden  which  this  year  had  upwards  of  thirty  stems, 
but  owing  either  to  the  drought  or  the  large  number  of  bulbs 
the  stems  are  not  so  high  as  usual. 
I  do  not  think  that  it  is  the  habit  of  those  who  grow  this  Lily 
for  the  sake  of  the  cat  blooms  to  throw  away  the  bulbs  as  they  do 
those  of  Harris!,  but  to  grow  them  from  year  to  year.  It  is  the 
practice  of  those  who  send  this  Lily  to  market  to  cut  out  the 
stamens,  as  the  profusion  of  yellow  pollen  is  apt  to  fall  off  in  the 
transit  on  the  pure  white  flowers  and  so  mar  their  delicacy.  Lilium 
candidum  used  never  to  be  grown  for  purposes  of  cutting,  but  is  now 
very  generally  so  employed.  Its  very  strong  perfume,  which  is  apt 
to  give  some  people  headache,  makes  its  use  objectionable  for 
rooms.  In  the  garden  it  stands  well,  and  it  not  so  easily  injured 
by  weather  as  some  people  would  imagine. 
I  have  never  found  any  difficulty  with  Lilium  Browni,  as  it 
both  grows  and  flowers  well  with  me,  and  it  is  certainly  a  most 
beautiful  Lily.  It  has,  however,  like  many  liliaceous  plants,  the 
habit  of  sometimes  lying  dormant  for  a  year.  The  bulbs  remain 
perfectly  sound,  and  indeed  increase  in  size,  but  it  throws  up  no 
flower  stem.  It  is  therefore  well  to  grow  it  in  good  clumps,  so 
that  some  of  the  bulbs  may  be  depended  upon  to  bloom.  There  is 
a  beautiful  variety  called  odorum  or  Colchesteri,  which  has  a 
delicate  tint  of  sulphur  in  the  centre,  and  when  more  plentiful  will, 
I  think,  be  very  popular.  There  is  another  old  and  very  handsome 
Lily,  perfectly  hardy  and  of  a  peculiar  shade  of  colour,  but  I 
do  not  know  whether  it  will  be  one  to  grow  profitably  for  cut 
blooms  on  this  account.  This  is  Lilium  testaceum  or  excelsum  or 
Isabellinum.  It  is  supposed  to  be  a  garden  hybrid  between 
candidum  and  one  of  the  Turk’s-cap  Lilies,  but  it  bears  no  traces  of 
either  parent,  the  colour  being  a  delicate  fawn.  The  stems  riie  to 
5  or  6  feet  high,  each  bearing  some  six  to  ten  flowers. 
The  many  varieties  of  Lilium  speciosam  are  very  beautiful  for 
pot  culture,  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  manage  them  very  well 
out  of  doors.  They  are  not  flowers  either  in  much  request  for  cut 
blooms.  I  suppose  they  could  be  grown  in  some  localities  if  they 
were  found  suitable  for  market  purposes.  With  regard  to  the  use 
of  manure,  whether  in  a  dry  or  liquid  state,  I  must  say  that  I  have 
always  avoided  it  ;  it  might  possibly  be  useful  in  some  cases,  but  I 
think  the  risk  is  too  great  to  venture  upon  it.  I  prefer,  when  I 
think  the  roots  have  exhausted  the  soil  about  them,  tort  move  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  old  soil  and  add  some  fresh,  u.-^ing  a 
mixture  of  good  loam  and  leaf  mould,  with  coarse  sand.  .This  can 
be  done  without  disturbing  the  n  ots,  which  Lilies  in  most  cases 
seem  to  resent,  I  am  afraid  I  must  have  had  some  experience  of 
the  Lily  mite  in  some  clumps  of  Lilium  umbellaturo,  which 
suddenly  disappeared  a  few  years  ago.  They  had  flowered  well, 
and  I  was  naturally  expecting  to  see  them  pushing  up  their  growth 
in  the  spring,  but  they  made  no  sign  ;  and  on  examination  the  only 
traces  I  could  find  of  them  were  a  few  miserable  little  (ffsets,  the 
bulbs  had  been  about  the  size  of  a  man’s  closed  fists. 
Lilies  are  now  so  largely  imported  from  Japan,  North  America, 
and  Holland  that  many  choice  kinds  can  be  obtained  for  very 
trifling  coit.  I  do  not  think  that  they  are  so  particular  as  to  soil 
that  ordinary  amateurs  need  hesitate  about  attempting  their 
growth.  We  have  bad  very  trying  seasons  for  them  lately,  for  I 
think  the  greater  portion  of  them  do  not  like  drought,  although,  as 
I  have  said,  in  the  case  of  Lilium  candidum  they  seem  to  adapt 
themselves  to  even  a  dry  and  droughty  situation  ;  but  purchasers 
must  not  be  discouraged  if  they  do  not  respond  to  their  care  in  the 
first  year,  for  as  a  rule  they  do  not  like  being  removed,  and  one  can 
never  tell  for  bow  long  they  have  been  out  of  the  ground  before 
being  purchased. — D.,  Deal. 
In  a  recent  Journal  I  noticed  a  leading  article  which  opens  a 
wide  interesting  subject,  and  you  invite  records  of  experience. 
Lilium  auratum  and  its  varieties  rubro-vittatum,  cruentum,  Wittei, 
platyphyllum,  and  pictum  are  very  uncertain.  My  experience  with 
them  extends  over  thirty  years,  and  my  opinion  is  that  L.  auratum 
cannot  be  grown  in  England  to  return  a  profit  for  time,  trouble, 
and  outlay,  the  flowers  being  too  powerfully  scented  to  be  used  for 
room  decoration  generally,  while  the  bulbs  are  so  uncertain  in 
producing  flower  spikes  to  perfection.  In  pots  they  are  useful 
for  grouping  in  large  conservatories.  The  most  profitable  I  know 
are  candidum,  Harrisi,  speciosum  album  and  Kraetzeri. 
My  first  charge  of  auratnms  was  given  me  in  1862  in  a 
32-pot  with  two  blooms  upon  the  stem.  I  repotted  it  in  Sep¬ 
tember  into  a  24-pot  in  peat,  loam,  and  sand.  The  next  spring  it 
produced  two  spikes,  five  and  seven  flowers  on  each.  In  the 
autumn  of  1863  I  potted  into  a  16-pot.  All  went  well  until 
1864,  when  it  split  up  and  produced  eight  or  nine  small  weakly 
shoots — no  flowers,  thus  taking  another  four  years  before  any  more 
blooms  could  be  had.  . 
For  pleasure  planted  out  in  Rhododendron  beds  I  have  managed 
L,  auratum  very  successfully  in  the  gardens  of  the  late  James 
McIntosh,  Esq.,  of  Duneevan,  Weybridge.  Some  hundreds  of 
imported  bulbs  were  planted,  and  a  great  number  increased  from 
one  single  bulb  to  a  dozen  and  eighteen  after  being  undisturbed 
from  six  to  twelve  years.  So  long  as  we  saw  them  doing  well  we 
never  disturbed  them  ;  that  is  essential.  Give  them  a  little  top- 
dressing  of  cow  manure  and  soot  when  the  buds  are  formed,  or  in  a 
liquid  state  in  dry  weather  twice  a  week,  but  it  must  not  be  very 
strong.  Others,  again,  in  the  same  beds  did  well  for  two  years, 
then  split  up  into  a  number  of  small  bulbs,  producing  no  flowers. 
Others  came  up,  formed  buds,  and  became  twisted  and  deformed. 
Still  the  greater  number  were  successful.  The  highest  auratum  we 
grew  was  10  feet  2  inches,  with  twenty- two  blooms  on  one  single 
stem.  After  that  year  it  gradually  went  back  and  split  up. 
At  such  a  favourable  or  suitable  place  with  attention  and  care 
a  stock  may  be  kept  by  raising  seedlings  and  growing  them  on, 
lifting  the  clumps  in  early  autumn,  so  soon  as  it  is  perceived  they 
are  not  doing  well,  sorting  the  bulbs,  giving  fresh  soil  and 
situation  to  flowering  bulb.s,  and  planting  the  remainder  in 
a  nursery  bed  under  a  north  wall  to  grow  on.  I  always  allowed 
the  flowering  stems  to  remain  until  new  growth  had  started  in  the 
spring.  If  cutoff  in  the  autumn  they  formed  a  conveyance  for  rains 
and  frost  to  the  bulbs,  which  to  a  certain  extent  injured  them. 
The  soil  we  used  was  peat,  leaf  soil  and  silver  sand,  with  the 
natural  soil,  light  sandy  loam. 
Since  coming  to  Kew  I  have  to  adopt  a  system  of  lifting  the 
bulbs  early  in  October  every  three  and  often  every  two  years,  and 
to  give  a  new  site  if  only  1  foot  away  from  the  old  one,  with  fresh 
soil,  loam,  peat  and  sand.  I  dig  to  a  depth  of  18  inches,  break  up 
the  bottom,  place  in  a  good  layer  of  river  sand,  and  fill  in  with  the 
mixture  as  above  named  to  6  inches.  Then  I  place  the  bulb  or  bulbs, 
and  cover  so  as  to  fill  all  interstices  between  scales  fir«t  with  sand, 
put  round  to  prevent  injury  after  the  roots  have  started,  and  cover 
up.  A  circular  piece  ot  wire  netting,  1  foot  diameter,  is  pat  round 
each  clump  to  guard  from  cats  and  dogs.  I  have  two  dozen  patches 
in  a  half  circle  bed  of  Rhododendrons.  Some  L,  a.  rubro-vittatum, 
6  feet  high,  one  stem  with  eleven  buds  upon  it  (this  is  unusual,  is  it 
not?)  others  five  and  six  planted  two  years.  Two  years  ago 
L.  a.  platyphyllum  were  9  feet  high,  with  eighteen  to  twenty-»'x 
blooms  on  several  stems.  This  year  L.  a.  rubro-vittatum  are  the 
best.  I  have  one  stem  of  L.  Henryi  nearly  9  feet  in  height,  and 
I  consider  this  a  good  hardy  Lily. 
I  lost  a  number  of  bulbs  from  wireworm  and  unkind  soil  four 
years  back.  Other  varieties  in  another  border  include  Hansoni, 
Parryi,  and  candidum  have  done  well,  but  all  must  be  relifted  the 
third  year  to  be  successful.  Leichtlini  and  Krameri,  with  Browni, 
were  injured  by  wireworm  ;  Humboldti  and  psrvum  have  only 
produced  weak  shoots  and  no  bloom,  while  some  L.  a.  rubro- 
vittatum  in  pots  are  twisted  and  deformed. 
At  Duneevan,  giganteum,  Hansoni,  specioiums  album  and 
rubrum,  Szovitzianum,  pardalinuro,  and  tigrinum  were  inccessfully 
increased  by  seed  bnlblets  and  small  bulbs  when  lifting  and 
repotting.  These  were  grown  on,  planted  in  a  cool,  shady  border 
in  sweet  peat,  loam,  leaf  soil,  and  sand,  kept  free  from  weeds,  and 
mulched  with  decayed  manure  from  spent  forcing  beds.  They 
were  lifted  as  necessary,  always  keeping  the  roots  moist  and  free 
from  injury.  I  have  also  raised  Lilies  from  seed  sown  in  pans, 
and  by  sowing  some  every  year,  after  the  fifth  or  sixth  year  the 
first  batch  will  be  ready  to  flower  if  they  received  proper  attention. 
Thus  a  number  of  English  raised  Lilies  will  be  at  hand  to  fall 
back  upon.  Interest,  time,  and  attention  must  be  given,  and  a 
great  amount  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  will  be  derived.  I  may 
add,  when  I  gave  more  attention  to  fruit  growing  under  glass,  and 
less  to  the  Lilies,  they  soon  began  to  show  it,  and  went  wrong.  Should 
you  consider  these  few  records  of  experience  worthy  of  notice,  and 
of  any  assistance  to  your  able  correspondent,  Mons.  J.  Everaerts, 
Antwerp,  I  shall  be  pleased  that  I  have  sent  them  — T.  T. 
THE  YEAR’S  FRUIT  CROP. 
The  season  has  advanced  sufficiently  to  enable  a  fair  estimate 
of  the  nature  of  the  year’s  fruit  crop  to  be  formed.  It  may  be  said 
of  it  that  it  might  have  been  both  better  and  worse.  On  the  whole 
no  doubt  it  is  a  medium  crop,  for  there  is  absolute  failure  in 
nothing,  yet  an  abundance  in  scarcely  anything.  The  two  crops 
that  have  or  do  stand  out  prominently  as  being  good  are  Goose¬ 
berries  and  Walnuts.  The  lightest  perhaps  are  Apples,  Pears,  and 
Plums,  all  fruits  of  the  first  importance.  The  very  moderate 
results  of  an  undoubtedly  heavy  spring  bloom  present  nothing 
uncommon.  It  has  often  happened  that  good  crops  in  one  or  two 
successive  years  have  conduced  to  the  formation  of  many  fruit  buds, 
and  these  have  profusely  bloomed  ;  but  previous  season’s  crops  have 
largely  exhausted  the  stores  of  food  requisite  to  render  bloom 
fertile,  hence  the  bloom  has  failed  to  produce  fruit.  Those  treefl 
