1G2 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



sary, because L. speciomm does not ripen its seed in the open air in 

 the climate of New England. When the flowers were on the point of 

 opening, the anthers were carefully removed from the expanding buds 

 by means of forceps. As the pollen was entirely unripe, and as pains 

 were taken to leave not a single anther in any of the flowers, self-impreg- 

 nation was impossible. The pollen of L. auratum was then applied to 

 the pistils as soon as they .were in condition to receive it. Impregnation 

 took place in most cases. The seed-pods swelled, and promised an 

 ample crop of seed ; but the experiment was spoiled by the bad manage- 

 ment of the man in charge of the green-house, in consequence of which 

 the pods were attacked by mildew. 



" In the next year I repeated the attempt, with the same precautions. 

 This time the seed was successfully ripened. Being sown immediately, 

 a portion of it germinated in the following spring, and the rest a year 

 later. In regard to this seed, two points were noticeable : first, it was 

 scanty, the i^ods (though looking well) being in great part filled with 

 abortive seed, or mere chaff ; and, next, such good seed as there was 

 differed in appearance from the seed of the same lily fertilized by the 

 pollen of its own species. The latter is smooth, whereas the hybrid seed 

 was rough and wrinkled. About fifty young seedlings resulted from it ; 

 and their appearance was very encouraging, because the stems of nearly 

 all were mottled in a manner characteristic of L. auratum, but not of 

 L. speciosum. Here, then, was a plain indication of the influence of the 

 male parent. The infant bulbs were pricked out into a cold-frame, and 

 left there three or four years, when, having reached the size of a pigeon's 

 egg, they were planted in a bed for blooming. This was in 1869. 

 Towards midsummer, one of the young hybrids showed a large flower- 

 bud much like that of its male parent, L. auratum. The rest, about 

 fifty in all, showed no buds until some time after; and, when the buds at 

 length appeared, they were precisely like those of the female parent, 

 L. speciosum. The first bud opened on the 7th of August, and proved 

 a magnificent flower, nine and a half inches in diameter, resembling 

 L. auratum in fragrance and form, and the most brilliant varieties of 

 L. speciosum in color. In the following year it measured nearly twelve 

 inches from tip to tip of the extended petals ; and in England it has since 

 reached fourteen inches. A colored plate of it will be found in ' The 

 Florist and Pomologist ; ' and engravings of it have appeared in 'The 

 Gardener's Chronicle,' and other horticultural publications. The stock 

 has been placed in the hands of Mr. Anthony Waterer, the distinguished 

 nurseryman, who has given it the name of L. Parkmannl. In this one 

 instance the experiment had been a great success ; but of the remaining 

 fifty hybrids, not one produced a flower in the least distinguishable from 

 that of the pure L. speciosum. The influence of the alien pollen was 

 shown, as before noticed, in the markings of the stem, and also in a 

 diminished power of seed-bearing ; but this was all. 



" In the next year, wishing to see if the male parent would not make 

 his influence appear more distinctly in the second generation, I fertilized 

 several of these fifty hybrids with the pollen of L. auratum, precisely as 

 their female parent had been fertilized. The crop of seed was extremely 



