238 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER .  September  11,  1002. 
I  saw  my  labour  was  fruitless,  and  called  off.  Since  then  I  have 
discovered  the  reason,  and  through  the  large  importations  and 
the  comparatively  low  price  of  the  bulbs  grown  in  Japan,  it  was 
time  lost  to  raise  stock  in  England.  If  Mr.  Arderne  or  anyone 
growing  Rhododendrons  would  plant  some  L.  auratums  amongst 
their  Rhododendrons,  I  think  they  would  establish  them,  and 
if  successful,  which  I  feel  sure  they  would  be,  their  reward  would 
be  plants  10ft  high,  with  immense  heads  of  bloom. 
Mr.  McIntosh,  of  Walton-on-Thames,  England,  had  annually 
a  glorious  display  of  L.  auratum  ranging  from  6ft  to  12ft  high. 
When  in  bloom  it  would  be  indeed  a  very  dark  night  if  anyone 
accustomed  to  the  garden  failed  to1  find  their  way  about  by  the  aid 
of  the  great  blocks  of  these  white  flowers.  It  is  true  he  was 
always  buying  fresh  bulbs,  but  this  was  to  extend  his  culture. 
I  never  heard  of  him  having  to  replace  deaths.  His  garden  was 
undulating,  his  soil  was  very  light,  and  to  keep  his  Rhododen¬ 
drons  in  good  condition  he  had  hydrants  all  over  his  place,  and 
made  a  free  use  of  the  water,  an  absolute  necessity  to  keep  his 
Rhododendrons  in  condition.  The  drainage  being  good,  the 
Lilies  enjoyed  the  waterings.  The  stems  of  these  auratums 
were  usually  4in  to  4^in  in  circumference,  and  so  strong  that 
they  were  able  without  stakes  to  carry  their  immense  heads  of 
flowers.  On  the  west  of  Scotland  I  have  known  one  case  of  bulb 
being  planted,  and  in  five  years  increasing  into  such  a  mass  as 
to  completely  fill  a  bed.  A  photo  of  this  auratum  will  be  found 
in  the  “  Gardeners’  Chronicle  ”  of  1899 ;  I  think  the  month  of 
May. 
Elegans  (Thunbergianum).  This  family  is  very  numerous.  I  have 
seen  them  on  the  hills  of  Japan  growing  wTith  scarcely  any  soil, 
and  the  stalk  not  much  longer  than  the  flower  (3in  to  4in),  and 
I  have  found  them  in  the  woods  in  rich  vegetable  soil,  3ft  high; 
but  the  stem,  always  feeble,  being  drawn  up  by  the  shade  of  the 
leaves,  the  colours  are  lovely.  I  will  namei  a  very  few  of  the 
many  in  commerce. 
.  Elegans  Batemanae  (colour,  rich  glowing  apricot-red ;  late 
flowering),  height  3ft.  Elegans  Alice  Wilson  (large  lemon- 
coloured  flowers),  height  2ft.  Elegans  Beauty  (large  brilliant 
orange  flowers,  shaded  red),  height  2ft.  Elegans  G.  F.  Wilson 
(flowers,  apricot  colour,  large  and  erect,  spotted  purple,  with  a 
central  yellow  streak  on  the  petals  ;  late  bloomer),  height  2ft. 
Elegans  Prince  of  Orange  (colour,  clear  apricot  orange,  spotted 
black),  height  1ft.  Slogans  robustum  (colour,  large  orange- 
yellow,  with  bold  heads  of  large  handsome  flowers,  spotted 
crimson),  height  2ft.  Elegans  Sunset  (colour,  a  beautiful  glowing 
golden-chamois;  large,  handsome,  free  flowering),  height  2ft. 
Elegans  Van  Houttei  (large  rich  blood-crimson  flowers,  blotched 
with  gold  and  spotted  black),  height  lift.  Elegans  Wallacei  (very 
distinct  ;  flowers  rich  glowing  apricot-orange;  very  handsome 
and  late  flowering),  height  2.)  ft..  Hansoni  (the  Japanese 
beautiful  yellow  Mart  agon  Lily),  height  3ft.  Japonicum  odorum 
(the  long  funnel-shaped  large  flower,  opens  chrome'-yellow  ;  out¬ 
side  streaked  dark  chocolate-brown),  height  3ft.  Leichtlini 
(flowers  golden  yellow,  spotted  crimson,  and  gracefully  arranged 
on  the  stem),  height  4ft.  Longiflorum  eximium  (this  I  need  not 
describe ;  it  <3an  be  seen  in  the  Municipal  Gardens  in  great 
quantity),  height  4ft  to  oft.  Longiflorum  robustum  (this  fine 
species  is  distinct  from  eximium,  and  would  be  a  good  addition, 
long  pure  white  funnel-shaped  flowers,  reflexed  at  the  mouth ; 
the  stem  towards  the  base  is  coloured  black),  height  3ft.  Speci¬ 
osum  album  Crown  Princess  (very  floriferous ;  handsome  fine 
white  flowers),  height  3ft.  Speciosum  punctatum  (flowers  white 
with  faint  rose  spots  and  yellow  anthers),  height  3ft.  Speciosum 
punctatum  album  (large  snowy  white  flowers  with  yellow  anthers 
and  broad  light  green  foliage),  height  3ft.  Speciosum  purpu- 
reum  (large  purple-rose  coloured  flowers,  heavily  spotted  crimson- 
purple;  robust  grower),  height  3ft  to  5ft.  Speciosum  roseum 
album,  variety  Kraetzeri  (beautiful,  large,  pure  white  flowers; 
in  the  claw  of  each  petal  is  a  pure  green  line),  height  3ft.  Speci¬ 
osum  rubrum  Melpomene  (rich  dark  crimson,  handsome  flowers, 
heavily  spotted  purple,  with  each  petal  margined  clear  white), 
height  3ft.  Speciosum  rubrum  multiflorum  (suffused  and  spotted 
rose  on  a  white  ground,  profuse  flowering),  height  3ft. 
The  species  of  speciosum  rank  amongst  the  most  useful  and 
beautiful  of  the  Lily  family,  and  are  widely  spread  throughout  the 
English-speaking  countries.  I  was  greatly  surprised  at  not 
finding  it  common  in  the  gardens  of  the  Cape  Peninsula;  it  is 
of  the  easiest  culture. 
ligrinum  Fortunei  (stem  covered  with  a  white  down,  and 
surmounted  with  numerous  rich  orange-scarlet,  beautifully 
spotted  flowers),  height  4ft.  Tigrinum  Fortunei  double  (the 
flowers  of  this  handsome  plant  are  perfectly  double,  and  a  rich 
orange-scarlet  colour  spotted  crimson-brown),  height  4ft.  Tigri¬ 
num  splendens  (stem  almost  black,  surmounted  by  a  large 
pyramid  of  bright  fiery  orange-scarlet  flowers),  height  4ft. 
The  Tigrinums  are  almost  as  universally  cultivated  as  L. 
candidum,  and  greatly  prized;  when  seen  in  established  clumps 
the  effect  is  grand.  In  the  leaf  axils  there  are  bulblets,  which 
if  gathered  when  ripe  and  looked  after  soon  grow  into  flowering 
bulbs.  The  Japanese  Lilies  are  generally  of  great  beauty  and 
easy  culture,  and  those  I  have  enumerated  are  exceptionally  so. 
(To  be  continued.) 
Economy. 
“  His  ability  is  unquestioned,  but  his  extravagance  was 
unwarrantable,”  wTas  the  verdict,  verbatim,  of  a  good 
master  on  a  clever  gardener  at  the  parting  of  the  ways — 
their  ways — which  often  crossed,  the  crisis  coming  con¬ 
temporaneously  with  a  batch  of  bills.  Both  master  and 
man,  however,  have  long  since  settled  all  mundane 
accounts,  and  in  raking  up  the  ashes  of  a  dead  past,  perish 
the  thought  of  any  personal  inference  being  deduced  by 
readers  of  to-day,  old  or  young  ;  but  the  latter,  at  least, 
may  find  the  subject  furnished  by  our  text  worthy  of  their 
consideration,  for  frugal  and  thrifty  management  of  a 
garden  is  grateful  to  employers,  commendable  in  gar¬ 
deners,  and  to  both  a  highly  desirable  thing.  Bills,  too, 
are  still  troublesome  ;  masters  still  as  ready  to  make  rough 
calculations  of  returns  against  cost  of  production,  and  still 
as  apt  to  omit  important  figures  which  make  the  “  tot  ”  as 
untrue  as  it  is  misleading ;  hence,  assuming  that  a  suffi¬ 
ciently  true  bill  is  here  presented  for  a  brief  study  of 
economy,  the  general  expenses  of  garden  maintenance  may 
be  taken  under  sectional  heads,  the  first  and  probably  most 
prominent  being 
The  Labour  Bill. 
Cheap  labour,  like  other  cheap  things,  is  often  dear  and 
unsatisfactory.  Local  circumstances,  however,  so  gene¬ 
rally  control  the  wages  question  as  to  neutralise  any  action 
or  opinion  of  the  gardener ;  hence,  momentous  as  the 
matter  of  wages  may  be,  it  is  more  or  less  excised  from 
discussion.  Apart  from  the  question  of  overtime,  which  if 
done  without  may  be  something  off  the  bill,  it  may  be  said 
that  any  direct  reduction,  short  of  lessening  the  number 
of  hands,  which  is  often  a  pennywise  policy  and  seldom 
expedient,  is  not  practicable.  That  is  so.  With  a  per¬ 
manent  staff  and  fixed  wages  economy  of  labour  practically 
resolves  itself  into  the  management  of  men.  The  annual 
expenditure  may  stand  at  a  set  figure,  but  good  generalship 
will  ensure  the  highest  return  for  the  outlay,  and  there 
economy  comes  in. 
A  life’s  experience  with  some  study  of  one’s  fellow  men 
and  their  methods  leads  to  the  inference  that  head  gar¬ 
deners  are  as  diverse  in  their  modes  and  manners  of  govern¬ 
ment,  and  as  open  to  criticism,  as  were  our  generals  in 
conducting  the  South  African  Avar  with,  in  their  own  way, 
as  many  difficulties  to  encounter.  What  fine  studies  of 
character  there  are,  too,  amongst  the  labourers !  There  is 
the  fussy  man,  and  he  is  generally  talkative  to  boot,  so 
anxious  to  impress  the  overseeing  eye  with  the  quantity 
of  work  he  is  doing,  Avith  an  immodest  -amount  of  faith 
in  himself  and  the  importance  of  his  personality  on  the 
staff.  A  good  man  he  is,  doubtless,  in  his  Avay — his  own 
way — but  he  is  not  the  man  after  a  head  gardener’s  own 
heart.  There  is  the  schemer,  with  one  eye  for  his  Avork, 
the  other  being  reserved  for  the  special  duty  of  Avatching 
your  goings  and  comings,  and  the  way  he  has  by  some 
Marconi  method  of  letting  all  hands  know  when  business 
calls  you  to  the  city  or  elseA\There,  seldom  failing,  although 
based  on  such  slight  evidence  as  any  small  change  in  the 
more  permanent  parts  of  one’s  apparel,  is  highly  creditable 
to  his  powers  of  observation.  He  was  never  better  ex¬ 
emplified  than  in  old  Tom  H.,  garden  painter,  glazier,  and 
general  handyman,  wdiose  rubicund  visage,  reaching  the 
climax  of  colour  where  nasally  projected,  a  leading  light 
he  had  folloAved  all  his  days,  eloquently  corroborated  the 
oft  repeated  assertion,  “  I  loves  a  drop  o’  good  beer.” 
Like  the  renowned  Major  Bagstock,  Tom  was  “cute,”  yet 
on  one  memorable  occasion  his  cuteness  signally  failed 
him.  It  was  a  day  whe#  Tom,  ostensibly  painting  the  roof 
of  the  big  range,  Avas  in  reality  peeping  from  the  depths  of 
a  deep  gutter  which  lay  between  the  roof  and  a  high  sus¬ 
taining  wall,  noting  t’  Gaffer  drAe  off  for  T -  Station, 
en  route  for  London,  140  miles  away.  How  it  happened 
we  botheyites  never  kneAv.  but  happen  it  did  ;  in  less  than 
an  hour  t’  Gaffer’s  head  and  shoulders  loomed  high  over 
the  ladder  top,  just  after  “  a  drop  o’  good  beer  ”  in  the 
shape  of  a  gallon  jar  had  been  hoisted  aloft,  and  was  being 
broached  by  old  Tom,  aided  by  tAVO  of  the  faithful  ( ?). 
Sequel,  the  sack.  Sub-sequel,  prayers,  promises,  ancl 
threatenings,  and  back  in  a  week.  And  so  went  on  the 
watchful,  dodgeful  policy  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 
Needless  to  illustrate  more  of  the  types  so  often  met 
with  and  so  well  known,  amongst  which  is  the  plodder,. 
