September  16,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
259 
saving  a  horse  and  cart,  and  doing  the  thing  in  a  third  of  the  time  by 
artificial  manure.  In  brief,  “  natural  ”  manures  are  characterised  as 
delusions,  and  mark  the  era  of  retrogression  in  agriculture.  It  has  not 
done  so  in  horticulture,  for  it  has  produced  “  stuff  ”  better  and  cheaper 
and  lives.  That  is  the  crucial  test  of  men  and  methods,  and  the 
weight  of  evidence  conclusively  shovvs  that  where  there  has  been  a 
departure  from  the  old  well-proved  sound  practices  the  cultivator  has 
gone  deeper  into  the  slough  of  depression ;  on  the  other  hand,  where 
old  methods  have  been  adhered  to,  with  a  fair  admixture  of  improved 
princip'es,  the  evil  times  have  fallen  with  least  malignity.  The  only 
really  thriving  cultivators  are  those  who  use  “muck” — the  workers 
near  towns,  who  grasp  the  “  fat  of  the  land,”  sold  off  it  in  straw,  hay, 
beef,  mutton,  pork,  fowl,  eggs,  butter,  and  placed  in  the  land  again  as 
town  manure  or  native  guano — old  methods  by  which  every  description 
of  crop  is  grown  well. 
If  we  go  back  half  a  century — say  to  before  the  advent  of  the 
Potato  disease  in  1844,  and  the  famine  produced  by  it,  which  I  well 
remember,  as  a  “  bite  ”  was  then  difficult  to  come  at  by  a  poor  man — 
the  gardener’s  sheet-anchor  in  the  way  of  manure  was  thoroughly 
decayed  stable  refuse.  Farmyard  manure  was  held  too  precious  to 
be  trusted  anywhere  but  on  meadow  or  arable  land.  The  gardener 
never  let  a  forkful  of  stable  manure  pass  over  to  the  farm  if  he  could 
keep  it.  Both  farmei'and  gardener  had  “  muck  ”  on  the  “  brain.” 
Beyond  soot  and  Peruvian  guano  few  gardeners  employed  “hand” 
manures.  Wood  ashes  and  lime  were  mainly  used  to  keep  ground 
pests  in  subjection  and  for  correcting  anything  amiss  in  the  land, 
especially  the  lime.  Salt  was  used  in  a  few  gardens  as  a  slug  slayer, 
and  manure  for  Brassicas.  Pape  dust,  then  much  used  by  the  farmers 
in  the  lower  stretdhes  of  the  land  bordering  oA  the  Ouse  for  growing 
Potatoes  and  Wheat  after  them,  was  scarcely  known  in  gardens  any 
more  than  at  the  present  time.  Bones  came  to  be  used  in  various 
forms,  but  not  until  farmers  had  proved  their  value  on  grass  land  and 
garderiers  finding  that  the  turf  from  it  gave  splendid  Grapes.  Farmers 
used  superphosphate,  sulphates,  and  nitrates  long  before  they  were 
heard  of  in  gardens.  Of  blood  they  knew  more,  for  florists  made 
rich  composts  of  it,  and  grew  flowers  the  like  of  which  are  not  now 
seen. 
Times  changed,  the  farmers  went  downhill  and  the  landlords 
followed ;  the  dunghills  became  lower  and  smaller,  while  the  manure 
tanks  were  oftener  empty  than  full.  All  this  is  well  known.  Nothing 
flourished  on  land  but  the  builder  and  general  producer  of  all-round 
crops  hugging  the  towns  closely.  The  “  artificial  ”  was  had  recourse 
to  as  auxiliary  of  the  “  natural  ”  manure.  This,  I  hold,  is  the  true 
principle  of  manuring.  It  is  that  of  the  market  grower — “  muck”  is 
the  foundation  of  success  in  growing  anything.  Foundation  stuff  will 
not  grow  crops  profitably  ;  but  add  manure  to  it,  or  organic  matter, 
such  as  refuse  fish,  and  then  come  satisfying  results.  Suppose  we 
have  nothing  to  do  with  “  muck  ”  in  connection  with  foundation  soil 
—  inorganic  substances,  stones,  sand,  clay,  stupid  material— but  use  a 
few  pounds  of  “artificial”  manure,  containing  “as  much  available 
nutrient  elements  as  a  cartload  (4  town  manure  ” — w'hatis  the  result  ? 
It  comes  out  fine  in  pot  expeiiments  conducted  with  sterilised  soil. 
What  is  the  consequence  in  the  bed,  border,  garden,  field,  farm, 
parish,  county,  country  ?  It  is  a  case  of  losing  all  along  the  line. 
— G.  Abbey. 
(To  be  continued.) 
LILIUM  AUUATUM. 
I  Think  that  this  is  probably  the  most  disappointing  of  all 
Lilies;  so  difficult  is  it  to  grow  that  it  is  not  in  one  garden  in  a 
hundred  that  it  is  established,  and  although  tens  of  thousands  of 
bulbs  are  imported '  e  i^ery  year,  there  is  hardly  anyone  who  can 
supply  bulbs  which  have  been  growing  three  or  four  years  in  this 
country,  and  the  case  mentioped  by  Mr.  Williamson  on  page  241  is  a 
very  exceptional  one ;  in  fact,  so  much  is  this  difficulty  recognised 
that  gardeners  mostly  treat  this  Lily  as  an  annual.  I  have  grown  it 
now  for  many  years,  and  though  I  can  grow  most  other  Lilies,  I  can 
never  succeed  with  this.  It  comes  over  in  good  and  plump  condition, 
and  its  growth  for  next  year  is  already  formed  in  the  bulb;  thus  it 
flowers  well  the  first  year,  but  whether  I  grow  it  in  pots  or  in  the  open 
the  same  result  follows— the  bulb  either  decs ys  from  the  base  or  breaks 
up  into  a  number  of  small  bulbs,  and  the  usefulness  of  the  plant  is 
gone.  1  have  tried  it  in  all  kinds  of  soil  and  of  situations,  but  have 
been  equally  unsuccessful  in  all ;  and  now  comes  news  which  I  fear 
will  affect  it  still  more. 
Lily  culture  is  a  recognised  industry  in  Japan,  and,  therefore, 
anything  tending  to  its  deterioration  or  extinction  will  be  a  calamity, 
and  yet  this  we  are  threatened  with.  I  had  heard  or  seen  nothing 
about  it  until  I  took  up  a  recent  issue  of  the  “Standard,”  when 
I  found  it  was  honoured  with  a  leading  article.  As  a  general 
rule  the  excursions  of  the  daily  Press  into  horticulture  are  more 
amusing  than  instructive,  but  when  I  saw  in  the  article  named  that 
the  “  Kew  Bulletin”  was  referred  to  as  an  authority  for  its  statements,  I 
felt  that  they  were  worthy  of  consideration  and  notice.  The  attention 
of  the  authorities  was  drawn  to  it  by  a  London  firm  who  had  already 
lost  heavily,  for  out  of  a  consignment  of  40,000  bulbs  only  one-tenth 
was  unspoiled.  Lilium  speciosum,  another  Japanese  Lily,  fared  still 
worse,  for  out  of  a  consignment  of  73,000  bulbs  only  250  were  fit  for 
sale  when  they  reached  England.  The  disease  then,  or  rather  the 
fungus,  Rhizopus  necans,  is  of  Japanese  origin,  and  shows  itself  at  the 
base  of  the  bulb,  spreading  gradually  upwards,  that  part  becoming 
soft  and  discoloured,  till  the  whole  is  affected,  and  at  last  is  a  soft 
pulp.  Of  course  we  do  not  know  what  the  character  of  the  culture  is 
in  Japan,  but  probably  some  of  those  like  Mr.  James  II.  Veitch,  who 
have  travelled  there,  may  be  able  to  tell  us.  We  are  all  aware  how 
injurious  it  is  to  most  plants  to  grow  them  on  the  same  piece  of 
ground  for  successive  years,  and  it  may  be  that  the  Japanese  have 
committed  this  mistake. 
The  fungus  seems  to  have  been  unknown  two  years  ago,  and  most 
probably  the  soil  where  the  bulbs*  are  grown  is  full  of  it.  We  all 
know  how  difficult  it  is  to  deal  with  the  Potato  disease,  another  form 
of  fungus,  and  we  might  almost  therefore  despair  of  checking  this,  but 
the  authorities  at  Kew  have  taken  the  matter  in  hand.  They  have 
subjected  some  bulbs  sent  to  them  by  the  London  firm  already  alluded 
to  to  various  experiments ;  they  have  found  on  cutting  one  of  the 
diseased  bulbs  that  it  will  in  twenty-four  hours  be  covered  over  the  entire 
surface  with  a  snow-white  growth,  which  in  three  days  is  studded 
with  numerous  clusters  of  fruit,  resembliug  to  the  naked  eye  miniature 
pins  with  black  heads. 
The  object  would  be  to  destroy  the  vitality  of  the  fungus,  and  it 
has  been  found  that  a  solution  of  1  per  cent,  of  corrosive  sublimate  or 
of -salicylic  acid  is  fatal  to  the  pest.  But  will  the  Japanese  do  this? 
They  are  generally  tolerably  “  cute,”  and  are  not  slow  in  taking  any 
really  good  hints  given  to  them,  but  we  fear  there  will  be  a  difficulty 
in  getting  the  remedy  applied.  Is  the  ground  where  they  are  grown 
to  be  watered  with  this  solution,  or  are  the  bulbs  to  be  dipped  into  it 
and  dried  before  being  packed  for  e-xportation  ?  It  appears  on  the 
face  of  it  as  if  tire  only  efficient  remedy  would  be  for  those  who  grow 
them  in  Japan  to  change  their  ground  altogether,  and  I  suppose  most 
gardeners  will  be  very  chary  of  planting  newly  imported  bulbs  in 
their  gardens.  The  fungus  appears  to  take  readily  to  other  things, 
and  especially  to  the  Daffodil,  which  makes  it  the  more  dangerous. 
Is  it  possible  that  the  losses  experienced  by  growers  of  this  Lily 
have  been  due  to  some  milder  form  of  this  fungus  which  does  not 
seem  to  have  appeared  in  its  most  virulent  form  until  about  two  years 
ago  ?  Other  I'orms  of  auratum  have  been  introduced,  such  as  rubro- 
vittatum  with  its  red  band,  and  Virginale,  pure  white,  and  they  par¬ 
take  of  the  fame  tendency  as  the  typical  firm.  Platypihyllum,  which 
comes,  I  believe,  from  a  different  locality,  was  stated  to  be  more 
robust  than  the  older  form,  but  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  this  is  the 
case.  My  bulbs  of  it  this  year,  whether  in  pots  or  the  opien  ground, 
have  not  done  well,  but  then  the  season  has  been  an  exceptional 
one  for  some  Lilies ;  but  I  shall  be  glad  if  this  very  fine  flower, 
with  its  broad  petals  and  good  form,  should  prove  more  robust  than 
the  type. 
There  is  another  point  on  which  Lilium  auratum  has  been  dis¬ 
appointing.  Seeing  how  very  pirominent  the  reproductive  organs  are, 
and  therefore  how  easily  hybridised,  it  was  thought  that  it  would 
afford  a  good  opportunity  for  passing  into  some  of  the  other  forms  of 
Lilies ;  but  with  one  exceprtion  no  hybrids  appear  to  have  been 
raised,  and  this  evidently  piartook  of  the  detect  which  I  have 
noticed  in  auratum,  for  it  has  never  been  distributed,  and  has,  I 
believe,  passed  out  of  existence.  This  is  much  to  be  deplored,  for 
it  was  a  bold  and  striking  flower,  and  would  have  been  a  great 
ornament  to  our  gardens;  indeed  the  hybridist  does  not  seem  to  have 
done  much  to  this  tribe.  Testaceum,  or,  as  it  used  to  be  called, 
Isabellinum,  is  supposed  to  he  a  garden  hybrid  between  Lilium 
candidum  and  L.  chalcedonicum,  and  for  its  beautiful  colour  and 
complete  hardiness  has  long  been  a  favourite  in  our  gardens.  Of  late 
years  Mr.  Powell  of  Southbo rough  has  raised  a  remarkable  hybrid 
between  Ilansoni  and  dalmaticum.  Never,  perhaps,  has  the  evidencu 
of  a  true  cross  been  more  manifest  than  in  this  remarkable  flower.  Some¬ 
times  the  effects  of  the  cross  fertilising  are  shown  in  the  foliage,  but 
very  little  of  it  is  seen  in  the  bloom;  not  so  here,  where  the  flower 
partakes  equally  of  both  parents. 
There  may  be  other  hybrids,  but  I  cannot  call  them  to  mind.  The 
fine  variety  of  speciosum  called  Melpiomene  is  not  a  hybrid,  but 
evidently  a  fine  seedling  variety.  Just  as  we  see  in  the  imported 
bulbs  of  Lilium  auratum,  there  is  a  great  variation  in  the  form  and 
colour  of  the  flower,  and  also  in  their  time  of  blooming,  some  of  them 
bearing  very  inferior  flowers  to  others;  it  is  also  liable  to  what  is 
called  fasciation,  that  is,  two  or  three  stems  joined  together  and  quite 
flat.  I  have  had  specimens  of  this  freak  of  Nature  where  upwards  of 
thirty  blooms  have  been  crowded  together  ;  these  are  small,  and  the 
whole  thing  was  valueless,  except  as  a  curiosity,  and  sure  to  die  after 
the  blooming  season  was  over. — D.,  Deal. 
