November is over; our lilies are planted. How are we to treat them before the flowering season arrives?
Lilies out in the ground require but very little attention until the shoots appear. In severe winters Lilium Giganteum, Cordifolium, Speciosum, and one or two others, should be protected by bracken or other litter; but lilies stand the frost remarkably well, and rarely suffer from this cause before the flower shoots appear. Lilies grow all through the winter, forming roots. Lilium Candidum puts up an autumn growth of leaves, and occasionally other lilies do the same. When the shoots appear more attention is required. Those kinds which send up shoots in January, February, or March may need slight protection, such as a hand light, from frosts. As the season advances you must guard against two great enemies—slugs and drought. A dry April, not at all an unusual occurrence, will often do great damage in the lily garden.
During growth lilies require a very large amount of water. In a dry season it is a good plan to water them every day. An insufficient supply of water is one of the commonest causes of failure with lilies.
With lilies in pots only an occasional watering will be required before the shoots appear. As soon as this stage is reached they should be watered daily until the flower-buds appear.
If only we could guard against slugs! These are the greatest of all pests to the lily grower, and though there are many infallible preventives against slugs used and sold, not one of them answers its purpose. Soot is usually regarded as the best agent to use to prevent slugs from eating the tender spring growth of lilies. The soot is thickly dusted round the plant, and as slugs very much dislike any powder which adheres to their slimy bodies, they will not venture across the sooty track. No, they will not cross the soot—at least not until the soot gets damp, as it does after the first heavy dew or shower of rain. As soon as the soot gets wet it is no longer a deterrent to slugs. Lime is also recommended to be used in the same way as soot; but it, too, fails to serve its purpose when it has once become damp.
Then have we no way to keep down the ravages of slugs? Yes!—we have one way, a very excellent way, but a most tedious and unpleasant one to carry out. The only effective way of thwarting the ravages of the slugs is to pick off by hand the culprits, while they are gorging themselves in the evening.
The stem and bulb of L. Auratum showing the relative quantity of roots given off above and below the bulb.
(From a photograph. Reduced to a quarter of original diameter.)