We agree with Mrs. Ewing, who said that some gardeners had witchcraft in their hands, and could make anything grow and flourish. We have seen one of this kind transplant a Crimson Rambler on a hot July day, and the Rose liked it. We used to see the same one divide her Pinks, and make every bit take root and increase. But as you may not be a born witch or wizard, and as you may find layers, pipings, and cuttings all difficult operations, we will tell you the easiest way in the world to increase your Pinks. We came across it in Gardening Illustrated, in one of those little narratives of real personal experience that make a good gardening paper so useful and interesting. The writer said that all he did was to tear off strong young shoots with a good heel or tag attached, trim off the lower leaves, and plant firmly in a partially shaded situation and in sandy soil. We have tried this plan ourselves, and have found that every slip we took grew. We take them when our Pinks have quite done flowering. The following year we plant them out, and they flower a little, and by the second year they are good strong clumps. But you will probably not find this way answers if you have a cold, heavy soil.
CHAPTER IX
LILIES
We will begin with Lilium Candidum, the Madonna or Cottage Lily. You know it, of course: the big white lily that the Madonna, and sometimes the angels, carry in old pictures, and that you see at its best in cottage gardens. All gardeners ask each other ‘Why do we see great healthy clumps of this lovely Lily in poor little neglected cottage gardens, while in our highly-fed and carefully-tended ones it gets the now well-known Lily disease?’ We hope your Madonna Lilies will not get it, because it is rather heart-breaking to watch its ravages. In the spring you see fine, healthy leaves, and you look forward to the tall stems that will arise from them and bear great scented, shining white flowers. But one day you notice that the leaves look rather brown. A stem has shot up, but the leaves on it look brown, too. Every day it seems to get browner and flabbier, and at last you cut it down because it is so unsightly. Sometimes these sick stems bear sick, half-decayed Lilies, but they give you no pleasure. A healthy Dandelion is far more beautiful.
One of the best amateur gardeners we ever knew used to say that there were some plants that throve on neglect, and we really believe that the Madonna Lily is one of them. The cottager who puts some healthy bulbs in dry soil, and leaves them there year after year, gets better flowers than the gardener who fusses and feeds them. There seems to be no doubt that the Lily disease has its best chance in a low, badly drained soil that holds moisture. If you can give your Lilies a dry, well-drained position, you will probably succeed with them. Buy your bulbs from a good firm, dust them well with flower of sulphur, plant them about five inches deep and nine inches apart in sand, and then never interfere with them again. Remember that their flowers will last longer if not exposed to the full midday sun, but do not plant them near the roots of the trees, or where rain cannot reach them. They require rain, but not stagnant moisture. Three bulbs together make a nice clump, and they would look well in the centre of your border. The leaves die down in winter, and when the new ones come in spring, you must look out for slugs. If you have many, surround your Lilies with lime, soot, or wood ashes. Mr. J. Weathers says that a frequent fine syringeing with warm soapy water will sometimes check the disease. If when your Lilies flower you do not want their petals dusted over with yellow pollen, you must remove the anthers, the part of the stamen that contains the pollen.
Orange Lily (Lilium Croceum).
This is the splendid orange Lily with purple spots so much grown in Irish cottage gardens. It is one of the easiest and hardiest of Lilies, and looks well against a background of shrubs or ferns. The bulbs should be planted from six to nine inches deep, and need not be disturbed for years. If you have to dig yours up in spring or autumn, you can increase your stock by carefully detaching the little offsets from the parent bulbs. In time they will make flowering plants. This Lily will grow in sunshine or shade, and in any healthy garden soil.
LILIES AND ROSES.