vigorous stock may be the result, and this stock may be dignified with
a special name. For my own part what I want is to have a great
abundance of lily of the valley from February till the out-door season
is over. To do this with imported clumps would, of course, be most
costly, and far beyond what any person ought to spend on mere flowers.
Though it must be remembered that it is an immense advantage to the
parish priest to be able to take bright and sweet flowers to the
bedside of the sick, or to gratify the weary spirit of a confirmed
invalid, confined through all the lovely spring time to the narrow
limits of a dull room, with the fragrant flowers of the lily of the
valley. I determined, therefore, that I would have an abundance of
early lilies, and that they should not be costly, but simply produced
at about the same expense as any other flowers, and I have been very
successful in accomplishing this by very simple means. First of all,
it is necessary to have the means of forcing, that is to say the
required heat, which in my case is obtained from an early vinery. I
have seen lilies forced by pushing the clumps in under the material
for making a hot bed for early cucumbers, the clumps being drawn out,
of course, as soon as the flowers had made a good start. They have
then to be carefully and very gradually exposed to full light, but
often, although fine heads of bloom may be produced in this way, the
leaves will be few and poor.

My method is simply this: In the kitchen garden there is the old
original bed of lilies of the valley in a corner certainly, but not a
dark corner. This is the reservoir, as were, from whence the regular
supply of heads for special cultivation is taken. This large bed is
not neglected and left alone to take care of itself, but carefully
manured with leaf mould and peat moss manure from the stable every
year. Especially the vacant places made by taking out the heads for
cultivation are thus filled up.

Then under the east wall another piece of ground is laid out and
divided into four plots. When I first began to prepare for forcing I
waited four years, and had one plot planted with divided heads each
year. Clumps are taken up from the reserve bed and then shaken out and
the heads separated, each with its little bunch of fibrous roots. They
are then carefully planted in one of the plots about 4 in. or 5 in.
apart, the ground having previously been made as light and rich as
possible with plen