CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCES THE HOUSEHOLD.

On a raw, foggy-looking morning in November, three happy-looking girls sat in their cosy little sitting-room, taking their breakfast by lamplight. Neither the bitter weather, nor the fact that it was only eight o'clock on a winter morning, had power to damp their spirits. Their lives were much too full and occupied for any time to be given to depression. The tall, handsome girl of eighteen, with the brilliant complexion and nut-brown hair is Jane Orlingbury, the slighter one who sits at the side of the table near the fire is her sister Ada, the elder by five years. They are both eating their early breakfasts with hearty appetites, and quickly too, for there is not much time to lose. Ada is a type-writer in a very good office in the City. She has got on so well that she is earning £100 a year. Jane is a cookery teacher in a distant parish, and she must start off with her sister, for although her work does not begin so early as Ada's, who is due at her office at nine o'clock, she has a good way to go, and the marketing for her classes to do before she starts work at ten o'clock. The bright-eyed little woman at the head of the table, who is pouring out the coffee, is Marion Thomas. In appearance she presents a marked contrast to the two sisters, for she is short, plump, and dark. She lives with them, and does the housekeeping of the joint establishment and nearly all the cooking. If it were not for Marion, Ada laughingly tells their friends, it is more than probable that she and Jane, who come back in the evening rather tired and certainly disinclined for housework, would live altogether on tea, eggs, and toast, as some flippant individual once remarked that all women would be sure to do if left entirely to themselves. The Orlingburys and the Thomases all lived in the same little village in Nottinghamshire. About a year and a half ago the Orlingburys' home was broken up when their father died. The two girls warehoused their little stock of furniture, and spent some of the little capital that was left them in training to earn their own living, and as they had no relations with whom they could conveniently live, they stayed in a boarding-house while Ada was at Pitman's and Jane going backwards and forwards to the cookery-school. But they both felt a great lack of cosiness about the arrangement, and they were more than thankful when their old friend Marion, who had come to town a little time before them, and was staying with some cousins in Norland Square whilst she worked up a connection of music pupils, arranged to come and live with them.

Three months before our story begins they had taken unfurnished apartments in a little house in West Hampstead, for which they paid fifteen shillings a week. These consisted of a nice little sitting-room, a moderate-sized bedroom for the sisters and a small one for Marion, and a little room on the floor above the sitting-room, which had been fitted up as a kitchen, and the glories of which we will reveal later. They all made their own beds, and dusted their rooms before breakfast. On alternate weeks they took it in turns to get up half an hour earlier, dust the sitting-room, and lay and prepare the breakfast, for which everything was put ready overnight. The breakfast generally consisted of ham, brawn, pressed beef, or something similar. If any cooking had to be done, it was something that was finished very quickly, such as fried bacon or scrambled eggs.

Most of the furniture in the rooms belonged to the Orlingburys; they had brought it from their old home, so there was very little to buy. Marion was not an orphan, as they were; she was one of a very large family, and her father was a hardworking doctor. She was an excellent pianist and a clever housekeeper, for she and her sisters all had to help at home. She was sorry to leave her country home, but her parents were quite willing for her to do so, as there was little opportunity in their remote village for her to make practical use of her musical talent, which had been excellently cultivated. Marion had thirty pounds a year of her own that had been left her by her godmother, and she earned sixty pounds a year by her music pupils. As she taught only in the afternoons, her mornings were free for domestic matters.

Some of Jane's friends asked her once why she did not do the cooking instead of Marion, as she was duly qualified, but she declared that she had so much to do with food all the day long that she felt very disinclined to have to do with it after she got back in the evenings, whereas Marion had always been accustomed in her own home to spend her mornings in this manner, and she did not mind at all. In fact, the suggestion was Marion's own. Jane nearly always helped Marion in the final preparations, however, as we shall see. The friends had now been living together for three months, and the arrangement may be said to have answered in every way, for they were still on just as good terms as when they first set up house together.

"This ham toast is delicious, Jenny," said Ada. "You may make us some more whenever you feel inclined; but you must own you were lucky to have had Marion to cut it all up for you yesterday. Do you think you would have had the energy to do it all yourself this morning if she had not, or should we have had to eat the remains of the ham in all its bare coldness?"

"Don't tease, Jenny; I won't have it," laughed Marion. "I don't mind preparing the ham toast the least in the world. It is so seldom that we have anything for breakfast that needs more than five minutes cooking, and it would have been such a pity not to have ham toast when the opportunity came."

"Are you ever going to let Abigail do any of your cooking?" asked Ada. "Give us fair warning if you do, or, at all events, do not allow her to have too much scope for startling innovations."

At this the others laughed. Abigail was a girl of thirteen from the National School in the next street. She was a "half-timer." That is to say, she had only to spend half her time at school, either morning or afternoon, as she preferred. So she came from eight to nine every morning to brush the floors and wash up, and on every alternate morning she stayed until twelve o'clock and turned out a room, Marion superintending her work and giving her such help as she could spare from her cooking. Abigail was provided with breakfast, consisting of cocoa and bread and butter, and on days when she turned out a room she had dinner at twelve o'clock. Then she went home. She went to school in the afternoons, and at half-past six came back to "The Rowans," as the little house where the three friends lived was called (in honour of a mountain-ash in the front garden), to lay the table, dish up the seven o'clock dinner, clear away, wash up, and put everything ready for the next morning. Abigail's wages were two shillings and sixpence a week. Dinner was always over by a quarter past seven.

"I have not seen any signs of culinary genius at present," said Marion, "so I do not think you need fear for the present. In the meantime, have you two girls had enough? I must insist on your eating good breakfasts."

"Don't you begin to scold us, Mrs. Housekeeper," cried Jenny. "What about the lunches that you eat? You let out some shocking facts about some biscuits and a glass of milk the other day. I shall bribe the hand-maiden to watch you and see that you take proper care of yourself."

Marion meekly promised to be constant in her attentions to the brawn or similar solid dainties, and the two sisters, who by this time had finished their breakfasts and put on their things, kissed their friend affectionately and set off.

Marion helped Abigail to wash up the breakfast things, and then set her to work in the sitting-room. Abigail's full name was Susannah Abigail Bellamy.

"Please, ma'am, we call 'er 'Susie' at 'ome," said her mother when Marion went to engage her, but the Orlingburys thought the name "Abigail" such a delicious one for a little housemaid that they insisted on using it, and Abigail grinned delightedly.

Ada and Marion had provided her with neat print dresses and good serviceable aprons, and Jenny had prevailed upon her to put back the larger portion of a very unbecoming fringe, and had even managed to get her to do her hair so that it did not stick out in tufts.

When Abigail had got to work, Marion did her marketing, bringing most of the things back with her in a wonderful marketing-basket, and then she went to her kitchen. This, as we have said, was a little room on the floor above the sitting-room. Just outside was a housemaid's sink, which was very useful, as Marion had no scullery. A nice gas-stove had been fitted up on the "penny-in-the-slot" system which the gas company did free of cost, and by this all the cooking was done. Gas for five hours could be had by putting in a penny; if it was not wanted for five hours right off, the rest of the same pennyworth could be used next time cooking was to be done. This arrangement was very economical and formed their only gas bill, for they used a lamp in their sitting-room and candles in the bed-rooms. The gas bill was under a shilling a week.

Two shelves went all round the walls, one above the other, with nails in the edge for hanging jugs, measures, the dredger, and the grater. The shelves served instead of a dresser. A very small kitchen table stood just by the window, with two drawers in it. In one of these the tea and glass cloths in use were kept, and in the other the knives and forks.

The iron and wooden spoons used in cooking were kept in a box on the shelves. By its side the paste-board and rolling-pin might be seen, the latter a good straight thick one that rolled very evenly. The dripping-tins, baking-tins, baking-sheet, and meat-rack were on the shelves as well, and also the small dinner-service of which the establishment boasted.

Under the shelves on one side was a cupboard, which Marion now proceeded to unlock. On the top shelf of this was a row of coloured tins, containing tea, coffee, brown sugar, loaf sugar, rice, lentils, tapioca, and sultanas, several jars of jam (which had been sent them from the country), a packet of corn-flour, and a few other things. On the lower shelf were kept all cleaning materials, soap, soda, sand, emery, and house-flannel, and a spare scrubbing-brush.

Fortunately there was a cupboard under the stairs in which the housemaid's box with its blacking-brushes and the zinc pail and pan used for scrubbing and washing up could be kept. And on this cupboard Marion kept an sharp eye, and saw that it was kept very clean and the zinc pans well rinsed with hot water and soda after being used to prevent their getting greasy. The six enamel saucepans of varying sizes stood on a tripod stand in one corner.

The fittings up of the little kitchen were all new when the three friends started housekeeping, and it was economically managed, as the following account will show--

£ s. d. Two small enamel saucepans at 8½d. and 6½d. 0 1 3 Two medium ditto at 1s. 2d. and 1s. 4d. 0 2 6 Two enamel stewpans at 1s. 9d. and 2s. 0 3 9 One paste-board 0 1 9 One rolling-pin 0 1 0 One dripping-tin 0 0 8 One dripping-tin with meat-rack 0 1 0 One baking-sheet 0 0 8 Three pint pie-dishes at 3¾d. 0 0 11¼ Two large basins at 6½d. 0 1 1 Three pudding-basins at 2d., 4d. and 6d. 0 1 0 Three wooden spoons at 1d. 0 0 3 Three iron spoons 0 0 3 Flour dredger 0 0 8½ Fine wire sieve 0 1 9½ Enamel omelette-pan 0 0 6½ Small iron frying-pan 0 0 10 Enamel pint and half-pint measures, 4½d. and 6½d. 0 0 11 Three jugs, quart, one and a half pints, and pint (to hold) 0 1 9 Weights and scales 0 14 6 Set of skewers 0 0 4½ Tin fish-kettle 0 8 6 ------------ £2 6 0¼ ------------

The pretty dinner-service that they used belonged to the Orlingburys, and the tea-service was Marion's. The tea-service and the tumblers and wine-glasses were kept in a cupboard in the sitting-room. The house-linen was kept in a cupboard on the landing outside the Orlingburys' bed-room. A good deal of it they had brought with them and the rest had been lent to the establishment by Mrs. Thomas, Marion's mother.

Coals were only needed for the sitting-room fire, as the three hardy country girls never indulged in such a luxury as a fire in their bed-rooms, and they found that half a ton of coals lasted them for six weeks.

Marion arranged her cooking so as to have as little as possible to do just before the dinner was served. For instance, on days when they had soup it would be made in the morning and warmed up at dinner-time; pies and milk puddings the same. Fish would be filleted, egged, and crumbed, ready to be fried at the last minute; and so would rissoles or cutlets. As there were only three of them, they never had big joints. Stews and curries were made early and warmed up; also such dishes as macaroni cheese.

By eleven o'clock Marion had generally done her cooking, and was free to read or work until two, when she went to her pupils. She came back at six o'clock, having had afternoon tea in the course of her work, and by that time the Orlingburys were back as well. She and Jane finished the preparations for dinner between them, and at half-past six Abigail returned to dish up and wait at table.

(_To be continued._)

OUR LILY GARDEN;

PRACTICAL AIDS TO THE CULTURE OF LILIES.

Every person needs some form of hobby--something to employ his time when the work of day is over. The mind wants some kind of recreation from the worries of business cares. We have felt this want, but we found that when we came to consider what our hobby should be many difficulties presented themselves.

In the first place, we wanted a hobby which would really interest and instruct us; one which would tell us something which we would be glad to know. Secondly, as our lives are spent in the heart of London, we wanted some form of recreation which would prove healthful and invigorating. We can find but one amusement which fulfils this last necessity, and that is the study of natural history.

But natural history is a very large subject, and we have not the time to study all its branches. We must decide on one branch. And here the great difficulty occurred. Which branch shall we take up? Well, after discussing the various pros and cons of the subject we at length determined upon gardening. But gardening is a very hackneyed subject, and besides, it has too wide a scope. Let us decide to cultivate one family or genus of plants. But which shall it be? Let us think. We do not want to grow vegetables; we want flowers. Shall we say roses? No, we have numbers of roses already, and besides, our country garden is in the most sandy part of Surrey, the very worst soil for many kinds of roses. Well, shall we try lilies? Ah, why not? No one, we know, gives special attention to lilies. Yes; let us decide upon lilies.

You see, there are so few lilies that we can easily grow them all! Why, we only know of five or six different kinds, and are quite sure that there cannot be very many other varieties! Fond delusion! There are not only five, nor fifty, different varieties of lilies; there are over one hundred and twenty varieties known to botanists. This was rather a damper to our enthusiasm, but on further consideration we congratulated ourselves upon this discovery. For if there are one hundred and twenty distinct varieties of lilies, and only some half-a-dozen kinds are well known, what a chance there is for us to do something original!

How splendid it would be to be able to grow lilies which not one person in a thousand has ever seen! With what pride could we show to our friends a beautiful garden filled with magnificent flowers, not one of which they had ever seen before. What interest will this spirit of adventure lend to an otherwise tame recreation! Yes; lilies are the plants for us. Yes, and we hope that we can instil into the reader an enthusiasm for growing lilies.

Most rare plants are curious rather than beautiful, and nothing palls so much as curiosity alone. But the little known lilies are beautiful; they are among the most magnificent flowers that grow. Have you ever seen a row of stately Madonna lilies in an old cottage-garden? Is it not a sight to remember throughout your life? The beauty of its pure white flower, with which the bright yellow of its anthers forms such a striking contrast, renders this lily one of the most delightful of all flowers.

And then its scent, filling the air for yards around on a still, warm evening at the end of July! Or, if later in the summer, while strolling in a large, well-kept garden in the evening of a fierce day in August, you have beheld, in a shady nook, a clump of the magnificent "Golden Lily of Japan"[A] standing as high as yourself, with its small leaves and crown of immense white blossoms, striped and spotted with gold, and have recognised the luscious scent exhaled from the blossoms, you will no longer wonder at the enthusiasm of the lily-grower. For many of the almost unknown lilies are quite as beautiful as these.

We were pleased to find that most of the lilies are but little known, but we were destined to find that this same fact had its own particular disadvantages. We found difficulties which were by no means trivial. Lilies will not grow of themselves. Like most plants which bear blossoms out of proportion to their leaves, lilies are rather difficult to cultivate. If you merely stick the bulbs in the ground, the chances are that they will either be eaten by slugs or die. Again, not all the one hundred and twenty kinds of lilies want the same treatment. Coming, as they do, from every part of the northern temperate zone of the earth, some from the vast mountains of the Himalayas, others from the plains of India, and others from the woodlands of Japan or the swamps of North America, lilies will not all grow in the same soil or situation. Each wants its own particular treatment, and if this is denied it, failure must of necessity follow. But when we consider the different habits and habitats of this wonderful genus of plants, it is astonishing that, with the exception of two or three kinds, all the lilies are hardy in our English gardens. Although this family of flowers has the name amongst gardeners for being unsatisfactory and difficult to grow, we have found the reverse to be true, and that, if their few requirements are attended to, you need not fear disappointment.

Suppose this day is the 1st of November. We are going to-day to a sale of lily bulbs. What lilies shall we get? How shall we choose our bulbs? What price ought we to pay for them? Let us glance through our gardening books and see. What do these books tell us? Nothing whatever! Or rather nothing which is of any value. You will find so little information about lilies in books on gardening, and that little is so full of errors, that it is best to ignore it altogether, except in the case of lilies which are commonly cultivated. And there is no practical book upon lilies alone before the public. Elwes' _Monograph of the Genus Lilium_ is a good book in its way, and the plates are excellent, but the information is much too scanty, and it is also out of date. As this book is not published by any house, is out of print, and is very rarely met with, and as its price is about £12, we may well say that this volume is impracticable. Wallace's little volume on _Lilies and Their Culture_ is twenty years old. There is practically no satisfactory book about lilies, and it is to fill this blank that we write these papers. Our knowledge of the subject is mainly the result of actual experience, for we have grown eighty-seven distinct varieties of lilies, to which is added a little information obtained from books tested by ourselves, and a good many valuable hints derived from gardeners and others who have devoted some of their time to the study of these plants.

Determination will solve nearly all difficulties. We have been to the sale and bought our lilies; now how are we to grow them? In pots? In the ground? Will they grow out of doors, or must they be kept in the greenhouse? When we first took up our hobby we could not have answered these questions, but we can do so now, for we have found out these points for ourselves, and are more than satisfied with our results.

Upon arriving at the conclusion, that if we wished to cultivate lilies we must find out all about them, we got a large note-book, and therein we kept a record of the year's work. We will describe this book a little later in the year, when we will not be so busy in the garden.

For the lily grower, November is one of the busiest months in the whole year. It is during this month that most of the planting should be done, for though lily bulbs are perhaps better planted a month or two earlier than this, they are exceedingly difficult to obtain until November has begun.

If you wish to grow lilies, the first necessity is to obtain your bulbs. You can grow lilies from seed, and we will explain how to do this later, but for a beginner it is a most tedious and unsatisfactory proceeding. Whichever way you may grow lilies when you thoroughly know them, commence by growing them from bulbs only. Well, we must get these bulbs, and how are we to obtain them? We can either go to a seedsman and buy what we choose, or we can obtain our lilies from public auction-rooms. Both methods have their advantages, and both have their disadvantages. If you go to the seedsman you can buy all your bulbs at once, you can make your choice, and you need buy but one lily of each species. But you will have to pay high, often fancy prices for them, and you can never be sure that the bulbs are fresh. On the other hand, in the auction-room you usually must get a large number of one variety, and you cannot obtain all kinds at the same auction. But you will have but a small price to pay, in fact, only the current market price of the day. You will usually find that the bulbs are fresh, and when you know how to choose bulbs you will be able to secure first-rate articles for your money.

The next question which you will ask is, "How much ought to be paid for the bulbs?" The bulbs vary much in price from several causes. Of course the price of one kind of lily is very different from that of another kind. For instance, bulbs of _Lilium Davuricum_ can be purchased at an auction for half-a-crown a dozen, whereas you will have to pay about a sovereign for a moderately good bulb of _Lilium Dalhansoni_. Again, the bulbs vary in price according to their size and condition; _Lilium Auratum_ bulbs cost from fourpence to half-a-crown each. The time of year also greatly influences the price of lily bulbs. Last May we bought twenty-five bulbs of _Lilium Auratum_ for a shilling. Six months previous, these same bulbs would have fetched about twenty-five shillings. Then the price varies much in different years owing to the success of the growers in Holland or Japan. For the guidance of our reader we will give some average prices for a few lilies. _Lilium Brownii_, ten for nine shillings. _Lilium Longiflorum_ (several varieties) from two to five shillings for ten. _Lilium Auratum_ about four shillings for ten. _Lilium Giganteum_, nine shillings for a single bulb. _Lilium Tigrinum_, _Candidum_, _Calcedonicum_, _Pyranaicum_, _Speciosum_, and _Elegans_, from four to six shillings a dozen.

We said that lily bulbs are very much cheaper at the end of the season than they are in October or November, and some persons might be tempted to put off buying their bulbs till March or April. But this is a great mistake, for very few of such bulbs ever live to flower.

The greatest difficulty in lily culture is to know how to choose the bulbs. There are so many ways in which the unwary may be "done," that many persons give up growing lilies from the constant disappointment which results from their ignorance of how to choose good, sound, flowering bulbs.

Lily bulbs vary a good deal in appearance and size, but there are certain qualities by which the value of any bulb can be more or less accurately determined. All the bulbs should be of moderate size for the species; very firm and compact; fresh and not withered; not broken; showing one or two points from which the shoot will appear (they should not show the flower spike itself); well ripened; not in any way attacked by vermin, or spotted by mildew, and if possible home grown.

We said lily bulbs should be of moderate size. No point is more misleading or less important than this question of size. Mere size goes for nothing! Some of the "mammoth" bulbs of _auratum_, so much advertised by nurserymen, often send up a miserable spike of flower-buds which wither ere the flowers open. We think that we know what is the cause of so many large bulbs going wrong. If the buds of a lily be cut off, the bulb increases enormously in size, and next year sends up a very superior shoot bearing many fine blossoms. Lily growers often cut off the flower buds from their lilies so as to improve the bulbs. These large bulbs are excellent. But the bulbs greatly increase in size if the plant does not flower for a year. Even if the whole plant dies from drought (a very common cause of failure with lilies), or if the roots are destroyed by vermin or by disease, the bulbs often become enormous. These large bulbs rarely do well, as the disease which killed their shoots the first year will probably do so again the second year.

Good bulbs are very firm and compact. This is much more important than that they should be large. We would rather have a small, compact, but heavy bulb than a light bulb with wide open scales, even though it be twice the size of the smaller bulb.

Always choose bulbs which are fresh and plump. Bulbs which have been kept one or two years out of the ground very rarely blossom or, indeed, come up at all. Such bulbs may be recognised by the outside scales being dry and withered. Always choose bulbs which are entire, if you can. But it is not very important that the bulbs should be perfect. We have done very well with bulbs which have lost the majority of their outer scales. Beware of purchasing bulbs which have begun to grow. Bulbs must be planted in the dormant condition. If you plant a bulb which has already thrown up an inch or two of flower-spike, the chances are that it will form no root, and that the stem will wither ere the flowering period arrives.

Unfortunately we have no way of telling whether bulbs are thoroughly ripened. Many bulbs, especially those of _Lilium Auratum_, come over from Japan, which, though they look perfectly sound and healthy, never live to flower. This is due in part to the bulbs having been sent from abroad in an immature state. Foreign bulbs purchased in July, August or September, must either be immature, or else rubbish left over from last year.

Examine the outer scales of the bulbs for little worms or mildew spots, and do not purchase any which show either of these parasites.

We are always told that lilies give greater satisfaction if grown from bulbs which have been established in England for some years. You should, therefore, choose these in place of those imported from Japan or Holland. English bulbs are, however, a little dearer than imported bulbs.

There is a popular delusion that you can grow lilies in sand. You cannot do so. All lilies require a rich soil; many require peat, and some excel only when grown in earth strongly enriched with manure.

The question of soil for lilies is an important one, and, as it is in general overlooked, we will carefully describe in tabular form the soils suitable for various lilies. For this purpose we will divide lilies into various classes dependent upon what soil they require.

Class 1.--Lilies which will grow in any good soil: _Tigrinum_, _Bulbiferum_, _Croceum_, _Davuricum_, _Elegans_, _Hansoni_, _Henryi_, etc.

Class 2.--Lilies which require a moderately light soil with a slight admixture of peat and leaf mould: _Auratum_, _Speciosum_, _Longiflorum_, _Krameri_, _Brownii_, _Japonicum odorum_, etc.

Class 3.--Lilies which want a heavy loam, well enriched and of good depth: _Cordifolium_, _Wallichianum_, _Candidum_, _Washingtonianum_, _Humboldti_, _Martagon_, _Testaceum_, _Calcedonicum_, etc.

Class 4.--Lilies which require a large admixture of peat and leaf mould with plenty of sharp sand: _Canadense_, _Superbum_, _Pardalinum_, _Roezlii_, _Leichtlini_, _Philadelphicum_, etc.

Class 5.--Lilies that want a very rich soil with large quantities of well rotted manure and leaf mould of great depth: _Giganteum_, _Monodephum_.

As a matter of fact many lilies will grow in two or three different kinds of soil. We have only given the form of culture by which we have ourselves obtained, or friends have obtained, the best results.

Position is of first importance in the cultivation of lilies. All kinds like partial shade, but not a position overhung with trees. It is best to plant them in a place where they can get the full sun for two or three hours daily, but where they are sheltered from the sun at midday. The position chosen should be well drained, preferably on the slope of a hill, and protected from high winds which can do very serious damage to plants which grow to such a height as these.

The best position in which to plant lilies is a bed devoted to azaleas, rhododendrons, or other shrubs. These protect the bulbs from severe frost in winter and shelter the young shoots from the high winds in spring. Moreover the soil which suits rhododendrons--a peaty leaf mould--is also an admirable soil for many lilies.

We planted a number of lily bulbs among beds of pinks last year, thinking that this situation would afford all that was required. But, alas! we had forgotten an enemy, of which you will hear more later, which has proved the very worst of our foes--the slugs. Oh, those slugs! We go out on a warm morning in March and see five hundred thick, healthy, green shoots, looking like tender asparagus. We have a slight rain in the night and go out next morning to see how our lilies are faring. During the night the slugs have eaten the tops off all those that were most promising!

The swamp lilies such as _L. Canadense_, _L. Pardalinum_, and _L. Superbum_, are best grown in damp situations, as these lilies require plenty of moisture. The dry bank of a stream suits them admirably.

Let us now proceed with the planting, which should be done at once. Take the bulb you are going to plant, examine it carefully and pull off any diseased or mildewy scale. Wash it well in lime water to destroy any hidden enemy and leave it a few hours to dry.

While the bulb is drying dig a hole, which must vary in size according to the size of the bulb, in which to plant your bulb. Suppose _Lilium Auratum_ be the kind that you are planting. Dig the hole two feet deep. Place an inch or two of broken crocks in the hole, and fill half full with the compost which the species requires.

Take the bulb and dust it over with powdered charcoal, which prevents the development of mildew. Place it in the hole prepared with a thin layer of peat (preferably burnt or previously strongly heated to kill all insects, etc., which it may have contained) below and around it and with a good handful of sharp river sand. Then fill up with the soil suitable to the species.

Our work for November is done, and we return to town to tell our friends of our new venture. We meet with nothing but discouragement. One says, "Oh, you cannot grow lilies satisfactorily!" Another tells us that she has never yet succeeded in growing these troublesome plants. One gardener tells us that lilies are the most difficult of all plants to grow. Another gravely informs us that though some lilies will grow in pots, only one or two kinds will do anything in the ground. But next day we read in a gardening paper that lilies cannot be grown in pots, but some will do well in the open border! What are we to believe? Shall we be successful, or are we doomed to disappointment?

We have gone through the year, having grown lilies both in the ground and in pots. Several hundreds were planted in the ground, and one hundred and three (eighty-seven varieties) in pots. Of the latter we have lost four plants. Twenty-two have not flowered but will flower another year; so that we are highly delighted with our success. To see the constant succession of the loveliest blooms filled our heart day after day with delight, and we trust many of our readers will receive for themselves pleasure as innocent and great.

(_To be continued._)

[A] _Lilium Auratum._

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

STUDY AND STUDIO.

A BOY READER.--1. Candidates for appointments as Engineer Students in Her Majesty's Navy must not be less than fourteen or more than seventeen years of age on the first day of May in the year in which they are examined. Their parents or guardians must pay £40 a year during their training, which may in certain cases be reduced to £25. The pay begins at once at 1s. a week. You can get full particulars by writing to the "Admiralty," London, when papers will be sent you.--2. Barnard Smith's arithmetic is excellent. You can procure it either with answers to the problems or without at a low price. If you want to prepare for any special examination you had better use the prescribed handbooks.

S. T. P. Q.--1. We find it a little difficult to select one play exactly fulfilling all the conditions you describe. _Home Plays for Ladies_ (French, 89, Strand), is published in parts containing three or four plays each, price 1s. each part. _Scenes from the Novels of Jane Austen_, arranged by Mrs. Dawson, published at 2s. 6d., by J. M. Dent & Co., might suit you; or _Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act them_, by Mrs. Hugh Bell (Longmans & Co.). We should obtain French's Catalogue in the first instance and send for one or two of the "parts" mentioned.--2. Your writing is very clear. We think it would be better if the loops to your l's, d's, y's, etc., were not so black, and if you avoided the inclination to make your letters pointed.

REX.--1. There are a great many good French dictionaries, published at prices varying from 21s. to 1s. 6d. As you do not name any sum we may mention Feller's Pocket Dictionary, or Cassell's Dictionary; net cost of either, 2s. 7½d. Do not rely on any dictionary for the proper pronunciation of French.--2. Your writing is very well formed. There is not quite enough freedom about it; it looks too "copperplate" and stiff. But we do not advise you to introduce flourishes. Practice will improve it with regard to the point we criticise.

MARITA (an Australian admirer).--1. The best hand-book to help you in composition is _How to Write Clearly_, by Dr. Abbott; but in order to store your mind with beautiful ideas, you should read the best of all literature, poetry and prose,--Shakespeare, Scott, Ruskin, and so forth.--2. We like your writing. It seems to us characteristic, and as you grow older it will more and more take your own impress. A good distinct sort of handwriting at seventeen is far better than an indefinite scrawl, and makes a more satisfactory foundation for what comes afterwards.

A GRATEFUL READER, A. L. B.--Would you not like to take a situation in a very good boarding school, and receive painting lessons from the master who teaches there in whole or part return for your services? The only way to hear of such a situation is to advertise in some London paper, or apply to a registry office, saying exactly what you want. You might find a situation on the Continent, entering a family (for instance in Dresden) to teach English, and studying under some artist. There is a Governesses' Home at Dresden, and the Lady Principal might give you some hints. Address, Fr. Hartung, Lehrerinnen Heim, Cranach Strasse, 11, Dresden. Again, you might give some household assistance in return for a home in London, and so attend either the Academy Schools or one of the numerous Metropolitan District Schools of Art. Advertising and private inquiry are the only means of finding what you want.

OTHELLO.--You can obtain Milton's _Paradise Lost_ (abridged) for one penny, in the "Masterpiece Library," but we advise you to spend about 1s. 6d., and to get such an edition as that in the Temple Classics (J. M. Dent & Co., London). We are glad you intend to read it.

IVANHOE.--1. Are you not thinking of Bulwer Lytton's historical play, "Richelieu"? You can obtain an acting edition for 6d.--2. October 12th, 1875, was a Tuesday. Two questions are our limit.

VEILCHEN.--Mudie's Library, New Oxford Street, London, supplies a large number of the best foreign books, and as boxes are sent to the country we suggest that you should write there for particulars.

MEDICAL.

CORNFLOWER.--Starch, being one of the chief foods of man, cannot be injurious to the blood. If taken in excess it has a tendency to make you fat. It is most undesirable to get into the habit of sucking alum, for this drug has an exceedingly injurious effect upon the stomach and bowels. Chalk will cause indigestion and constipation. This habit of taking chalk, starch, etc., is due to what is sometimes called depraved appetite, but it is most commonly merely a silly habit, easily broken by a little determination.

ANXIOUS.--You certainly suffer from some trouble with your lungs and need further treatment. You had far better see a skilled physician and have your chest thoroughly overhauled. From your letter, we think that you would obtain great advantage from spending the winters abroad, if you can do so. But do nothing until your chest has been examined.

E. H.--That we do not write for London girls only is abundantly proved by this correspondence column. We have this morning answered letters from all of the five continents. In fact, very few of our medical correspondents are Londoners, which is not surprising, for medical advice is so easy to obtain in the great Capital. Most of our correspondents live in out-of-the-way places--very many in the Australian bush or North American prairies. Of course, the science of medicine is much the same all over the world, and the advice that we give to a person in London is usually applicable to everyone suffering from the same affection in Europe, Asia, Africa or America.

BIVALVE.--The question of the causation of typhoid fever by oysters created a great sensation last autumn, and it will doubtless do so again this year. Typhoid is infinitely more common in autumn than at any other season. It is caused by a definite well-known microbe, and it never occurs without the presence of this organism. The question of oysters conveying typhoid, therefore, depends upon the answer to the query, "Can the bacillus of typhoid live in the oyster?" It appears to be an undoubted fact that the living microbe can exist in the living oyster. Some men tried to prove that the organisms only occurred in oysters that were bad; but this was proved to be incorrect. Having decided that oysters can harbour the bacillus, the next question is--"How does the oyster obtain this microbe?" The answer to this is easy. The bacilli can only come from a patient with the disease, and so the oysters must obtain the poison from sewage. As far as we know oysters which are unable to feed on sewage matter cannot possibly obtain the typhoid poison. By no means everybody who swallows typhoid bacilli gets the fever. Typhoid is a distinctly infectious disease, but is rarely, if ever, caught from person to person as scarlet fever and small-pox are. The disease invariably results from taking food contaminated with sewage. Water is the chief vehicle by which the disease is spread, and therefore during epidemics of typhoid all water that is intended for drinking purposes should be boiled. Milk, watercress, oysters, salads, etc., also convey the disease. Milk is a common method of spreading typhoid, either by the milk being diluted with water, or else the cans having been carelessly washed out. Pure milk, absolutely free from water, cannot convey typhoid. Typhoid fever rarely attacks the same individual twice.

EFFIE.--You can do nothing to alter the colour of your eye. It is not at all uncommon for the eyes to be of different colours, but nothing can be done to cure it.

C. A. E. F.--That you have had gastric ulcer is of course unquestionable, but from what you say you have apparently been well treated. Gastric ulcer is a dangerous disease, and is very liable to recur unless stringent precautions are taken. If, however, patients with gastric ulcer are very careful, the disease gets less and less and usually ends in complete cure; but careful diet is always essential. As you know, the treatment is practically the same as that for severe dyspepsia. As regards your diet, we should not advise much alteration. You must not take oats in any form, for they are indigestible. We would suggest milk instead of cocoa, for notwithstanding all that has been said about cocoa, we have considerable reason for suspecting that it is anything but easy of digestion. When you have pain, you would do well to eat nothing but bread and milk for a day or two, and you should remain in bed during that time. As you get better you might take a little chicken or hashed mutton. It is extremely probable that you will soon get well enough to do some work. You should be careful to be near a doctor to whom you can send immediately that any untoward symptoms become manifest.

"A WEST COUNTRY INQUIRER" asks us to explain the following circumstance--"I poured some permanganate of potash solution through the charcoal of my filter--as it were, washing out the filter with it--and the solution retained its bright proper colour. Must not this prove that my filter--a glass one with charcoal for the water to pass through--must be quite free from germs?" We will tell her that it by no means follows that her filter is free from germs. It is true that organisms (or rather their products) do destroy the colour of permanganate of potash, but they can only do so to a certain extent. She says that she used the solution to "wash out the filter." Probably she used some pints. It would require a vast host of microbes to destroy the colour of this quantity of solution. Her filter is, we take it, one with a carbon block, and usually in this kind of filter at least ninety per cent. of the water flows through holes in the carbon and corks, very little of it indeed going through the mass of carbon. Animal charcoal of itself will often decolourise potassium permanganate. If this correspondent wishes to test her filter more thoroughly, let her take out the carbon block and place it in a clean jug full of water, to which one or two drops of the permanganate solution has been added so as to make it a very, very pale pink. Having left it an hour or so, let her place a sheet of white paper behind the jug and see if the solution round the carbon block is paler in tint than the rest of the fluid. Even if this test is negative it will not prove that the carbon block is free from germs; nothing but a bacteriological investigation could prove the block to be sterile.

GIRLS' EMPLOYMENTS.

A CONSTANT READER (_Teaching_).--You are thinking of entering the Oxford Senior Local Examination. This undoubtedly would be a wise step. To pass this examination, however, even with the highest honours would not qualify you to take a very good position in the teaching profession, though it would help you towards such a position. A very good plan, if finances must be carefully considered, would be on passing the Oxford examination to proceed to some training college for elementary teachers. At Whitelands College, Chelsea, there is now a course of training that has been arranged specially for girls possessed of a superior general education. If you pass the Oxford examination, you would be eligible to avail yourself of this, and the expense is not very great. The Secretary of Whitelands College would doubtless send you a prospectus on application. Elementary teaching offers, on the whole, better opportunities than does the career of private governess. To become a fully-qualified High School teacher would probably entail too much expense, as you ought to obtain a University degree, if later you wish to secure a good salary and promotion. Your handwriting is neat, clear, and good for your age.

ERICA.--Your position is indeed a hard one, and it is difficult to advise you satisfactorily. But the future must be considered as well as the present, and it seems to us that this future is decidedly cloudy unless you can be trained for some employment now. If friends could come forward with an offer to train you for any of the occupations mentioned here from time to time, we think your mother would see the propriety of your availing yourself of the chance, sad though it would be to part, and much though there is to say in favour of the immediate economy of living together. We would suggest that you should learn either dressmaking or drawing--the latter with a view to newspaper and magazine illustration or fashion drawing. It is evident you have some talent for art, or your pictures would not have been exhibited; but as money is so much needed, we advise you not to go in for painting. You write a good hand, and a letter which leads us to think you have more than average ability. At the same time your health is possibly not robust. Cannot a little council of relations and friends be held so as to decide what plan should be taken to enable you to earn a living?

LADY UDINA S. (_Working for Charity_).--The circumstance that your presentation at Court has been postponed leaves you with more time free than you would have had if you had entered into the regular round of engagements during the London season. These engagements, however, do not occupy all a girl's time. We are glad to observe that girls and young married women, occupying the very highest positions in London society, set apart some portion of their time for work of public usefulness. Like yourself, they are not content to lay aside only one-tenth of money that has cost them no effort to obtain (though the subtraction of such an amount for God is obligatory), but they wish also to do work for others. It is not always easy to decide what a young and inexperienced girl can do. To help in a Working Girl's Club is suitable and often most interesting; or you might join the local committee of the Children's Country Holidays Fund. The Charity Organisation Society, and the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, are both societies that can sometimes delegate practical duties to young assistants. In the meantime you should still pursue your general education notwithstanding the fact that your governess is no longer needed. It is education that will make you of service in the world. Read the standard works of the best writers, study the course of history in the newspapers and with the aid of a map. Try almost every day to give some time both to study and to practical duties. We commend the motive that prompts you to wish to earn money in order to have more to give away. But the earning of money is a serious matter. It can only be performed successfully by girls who have had some special training or who possess special gifts. You give us no information in regard to these points. On the whole it would be better that any work you now do should be voluntary. At the same time, circumstances may occur to almost anyone to render it most desirable that one should be able to earn money. Try, therefore, within the next few years so to educate and train yourself that, if need arose, you could turn your hand profitably to something. A knowledge of housewifery, for instance, is a splendid possession for any girl and can never prove useless.

YVONNE (_Hospital Nursing or Teaching_).--Since you feel drawn towards hospital nursing, you might do wisely to enter one of the largest London hospitals as a probationer, when you are twenty-three or twenty-four. Having only passed the Oxford Senior Local Examination, your prospects as a teacher cannot be very brilliant, and in the long run you might find yourself more favourably placed in life as a nurse. But in the meantime you had better continue to teach. It hardly seems to be advisable that you should give up your present situation when you appear to be kindly and fairly treated. People who hold the same opinions as ourselves even on the highest subjects are not always pleasant in their dealings. You can at all events strive to show the beauty of your creed in your life and conduct; for a noble example is often more persuasive than doctrine. In hospital wards, moreover, you will find quite as great a diversity of beliefs as you could possibly encounter on the Continent.

MISCELLANEOUS.

MARY L.--We quite agree with you. Our advice to you is not to miss reading Ruth Lamb's supplemental story--"Friend or Self"--for we feel sure, judging from your letter, that you will enjoy it quite as much as we have done.

ANXIOUS.--The account of the very unnatural and unamiable state of mind of your "female friend" is a grievous one; but as she is only a little school-girl of fifteen, she may improve. We do not know of any book likely to effect a change. Such a girl would not care to read one giving advice. Talk to her of the love of our Divine Redeemer and of the obligation resting on us to "show piety at home," and to "requite our parents." It is His will that we should do so, and although we cannot purchase our salvation by our good works, we are bound to produce them in proof of our faith and our gratitude. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." "Ye call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things that I say." "Every tree is known by its fruits," and our first duty is to our parents.

MELISSA.--We recommend you to procure _Home Handicrafts_, published at this office. Chapter ix., p. 95, supplies the information you require on mirror painting. Instruction in fifteen different kinds of artistic and useful work are given in this book, and all equally suitable for both sexes.

AMY.--There is certainly a family similarity evidenced in the handwriting, which is very general. It sometimes skips a generation and crops up again, just as personal features and peculiarities, as well as intellectual gifts. This fact is noted by Darwin and Lord Brougham (whose peculiar hand resembled his grandfather's). George Seaton expressed the same opinion, and so do others. But we all have the power to improve upon the family style, or change it.

LOVER OF ART.--We believe that the oldest known English pictures are two portraits, one of Chaucer, and the other of Henry IV. The former is painted on a panel, the date about 1380; that of the king, 1405.

CARRIE.--If a sufferer from anæmia, we think you could not do better than go for a month's treatment to Buxton, Derbyshire. Of course you should neither take the waters, nor use the baths, without medical advice, as your dietary should be prescribed as well as treatment by the waters. You will find much to interest you in the neighbourhood when able to walk, or drive, such as Haddon Hall, Chatsworth, and Old Hall; and a little diversion of the mind, and turning of the thoughts from personal ailments, will also tend to restoration. If you have a kodak, or have any taste for sketching, you will have plenty of subjects--objects for a walk. Should you prefer to go abroad, Royat near Clermont-Ferrand (France), which stands on an elevation of 1,400 feet above the sea, is a charming place; the waters of four springs--of mixed alkaline, gaseous, ferruginous, slightly arsenical and lithia waters--are to be had in the ancient Roman baths. Anæmia, lymphatic and other affections may find alleviation, if not a cure, in this beautiful mountainous locality. We have ourselves inspected these baths, and are likewise acquainted with Buxton and its neighbourhood.

SONG-BIRD.--The instrument for regulating time in the performance of instrumental music, called the metronome, was invented by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, a German machinist, in 1812, and patented in England in 1815. His younger brother was also an inventor, and produced two remarkable instruments, viz., one imitating an orchestra, called a panharmonicon and an automaton chess-player.

A. B. C. inquires what the "Ptolemaic system" was, and who Ptolemæus was? He lived in the reigns of Adrian and Antoninus, a native of Alexandria, and was celebrated in those times as both an astronomer and a geographer. His system was quite erroneous, and was confuted by Copernicus, for he supposed the earth to be the centre of the universe. Do not confound him with Ptolemæus (called Ptolemy), and surnamed Lagus--as also Soter, on account of the assistance he gave to the people of Rhodes against their enemies. He was king of Egypt, and died 284 years B.C. This Ptolemæus I., though not an astronomer, was a man of learning, and laid the foundation of a library which became the most celebrated in the world.

MARIAN.--The origin of the name Albion (by which the French elect by preference to call England) has its origin in mythology. For Albion was the reputed son of Neptune and Amphitrite, and was said to have come to Britain and established a kingdom, where he introduced the art of shipbuilding and the science of astrology.

D. L.--It is not generally known that any disease in dogs or cats, from which they lose their hair, is most contagious, and if touched by a human hand, would probably result in the same loss. We lately read of a gentleman whose retriever was thus diseased, and those who washed, or even played with the animal lost their own hair in quantities. The dog should at once be sent to a veterinary surgeon, and prompt measures be taken for the cure of those infected. More than once we have been consulted by correspondents about their cats and dogs, whose hair came off in patches, but quite in ignorance of the danger to themselves in touching them, or even in having them in the house.

JANIE.--There are no free passages to any of the Colonies for female domestic servants, except to Western Australia. You can obtain all information, and penny circulars, at the Emigration Office, 31, Broadway, London, S.W., and letters to the Secretary need not be stamped. The voyage to Western Australia takes about thirty-five or forty days; to Canada, from nine to ten only. Free grants of land are made in both these Colonies, and in the first-named of the two there are numerous public works now under construction involving a good demand for carpenters, bricklayers, and mechanics, and labourers generally; and a considerable number of free homesteads to be had. A tailoress can always get work at Sydney, New S. Wales, and a few first-class lithographers would find employment at from £3 to £4 a week. In reference to Western Australia, and the demand for maid-servants, mechanics and labourers, the town of Coolgardie must be named as an exception.

YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER.--There are several kinds of cheese-cakes. One, for example, is made with cocoanut. For this, take equal parts of the latter, grated, and of sifted sugar, say, one pound of each, the yolks of four, and whites of three eggs. Mix these thoroughly and boil for twenty minutes. Then pour the mixture into jars, closely covered, and keep till required in a cool place. When used, line patty-pans with puff-paste, and bake. Cheese pastry for the cheese course is easily made. Roll out some puff-pastry, sprinkle it well with grated cheese, and a little cayenne pepper, repeating three times, mix well and bake lightly. Serve hot. A very nice dish is one of stewed pigeons and mushrooms. Two pigeons divided into halves (each) should be placed in a stew-pan with one ounce of fresh butter, stew a little, then adding a pint of good gravy, of mushroom ketchup, a little salt and pepper. Stir till it boil, and then let it simmer for three-quarters of an hour. The mushrooms must now be added, say, a couple of dozen smallish ones. Stew for ten minutes longer, and add two tablespoonfuls of cream. The mushrooms should be placed round the pigeons, and the dish served hot.