Day-Lily

THE DAY-LILY, Hemerocallis flav

THE day-lily is not in high repute. Nevertheless there are not many plants that can surpass it in usefulness or beauty. Imprimis, it will grow in any soil, and if the villainous spade chops its unseen roots, it will come through the trial and sprout up again in the way of a mutilated horse-radish. It will thrive under the deep shade of plantations where the ground is as dry as dust all the summer, and pretty well exhausted of all goodness by the hungry roots of the trees. When in flower a large clump presents a beautiful appearance, and when not in flower the fresh cheerful green and the elegant outlines of the sword or sickle-shaped leaves are pleasing features. But there remains to be told a fact "not generally known," and it is that this beautiful lily may be turned to excellent account to furnish fodder to cattle, and more especially to cows in milk.

As garden plants the day-lilies deserve much more attention than they have as yet obtained. Their flowers are showy and fragrant, and there are in cultivation about a dozen species and varieties, all highly ornamental. The commonest of the series are the yellow (Hemerocallis flava) and the copper (H. fulva). Amongst the many good things secured to us by the late Mr. Robert Fortune--most fortunate of botanical travellers--was the Japan species (H. kwanso), of which there are two or three varieties. One of these, called Kwanso flore pleno, has green leaves and double yellow flowers; the other, called Kwanso flore pleno foliis variegatis (which, if not long enough, may be lengthened by prefixing the generic name Hemerocallis), has splendidly variegated leaves and double yellow flowers, and atones for the length of its name by the fact that it is the finest hardy variegated-leaved plant in cultivation ! There are many costly stove plants grown for the beauty of their leaves that really come short of the splendour of this hardy plant, which may be purchased for a couple of shillings and grown in the commonest soil, and will, with very little care, make a superb ornament for the conservatory or for the choicest rockery or border.