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.

To do justice to the three day-lilies that have been named thus far, H. flava, fulva, and kwanso, will prove an agreeable task for one who is earnest in gardening. But there are a dozen more worth having, such as Dumortier's (H. Dumortieri), with narrow leaves and reddish-brown flowers; the grass-leaved (H. graminea), also with narrow leaves, but with yellow flowers, which are scarcely so handsome as those of H. flava. The two-rowed (H. disticha) has the leaves set in two rows very distinctly; the flowers are yellow without and reddish within. Nor need we stop here, for there is a pink-flowered species called H. Japonica, less robust in growth than the others, but well adapted for a place on a rockery, where its form will contrast well with the tufted plants. And yet one more, which brings us back to the subject of the plate. The common yellow day-lily may be obtained in a variegated form, the variety being catalogued as "striatis." It is not equal to the variegated kwanso, but it is a fine plant, and worthy of pot-culture to decorate the conservatory while its elegant striped leaves have the freshness of new growth upon them.

Shady borders give much trouble, and whatever may be grown in them with some degree of certainty must be made much of. The day-lily is one of the very best of plants for such places, provided it can obtain a fair share of the rainfall of the winter. Deciduous trees permit the herbs at their feet to live by affording access to them of the rain that falls between November and April; but evergreens are less merciful and kill everything beneath their shade. The veratrums are noble associates with day-lilies in shady borders, and two very humble but elegant weeds, the Enchanter's nightshade and the dwarf elder, may be allowed to run amongst them.

The starved appearance of shady borders is often the consequence of starving treatment. In a general planting or renovating, a really radical system should be adopted. All ill-looking shrubs that are in a dying state should be rooted out and cast on the rubbish-heap. The ground should be well dug and liberally manured, care being taken to spare the large roots of the trees from injury. If a few "wigs" of the smaller roots are cut out it will not much matter. The ground being thus prepared, strong well-rooted plants of suitable kinds should be planted, the most useful shrubs for the purpose being common Privet evergreen and deciduous Euonymus, Yew Box, Holly, Ruscus, Skimmia, and all the kinds of Ivies, the green-leaved ivy, known as "Hibberd's Emerald" being one of the best. The large-leaved Periwinkle and the sweet Woodruff may be mixed in the front line or put in clumps, with sheets of white violets between.