LINES OF INVESTIGATION. 13 



and act as scavengers, will ultimately injure what remains of the bulb 

 by attacking the living tissues, rendering the bulb more susceptible to 

 other maladies. Thus by a system of vegetative reproduction, the 

 bulbs, even though they be in a health}" condition and free from dis- 

 ease of all kinds previous to lifting, ma}" afford by careless harvesting 

 a lodgment for various enemies and give opportunities favorable for 

 disease year after year. 



LINES OF INVESTIGATION CARRIED ON BY THE DEPARTMENT 



OF AGRICULTURE. 



That the progress of the disease is accelerated through the present 

 methods of handling and cultivation is shown by the fact that in the 

 Bermudas there are private gardens in which the lily has been undis- 

 turbed for years where the plants grown show no trace of disease. 

 The recent investigations by Mr. A. F. Woods show that the disease 

 is due to several causes, and may be brought about by a weakened 

 condition through improper harvesting, resulting in the attacks of 

 mites, fungi, and bacteria. There is nothing to indicate just how 

 long it would take to rid the plants of the disease by giving proper 

 treatment in the Bermudas, but the easiest way out of the difficulty 

 appears to be in raising and selecting stock plants not from scales, but 

 from seeds, and in planting the bulbs within our own borders, where, if 

 given the care which the crop demands, there is every reason to 

 expect that the difficulty will be solved in the near future. 



In a large number of seedlings at least 50 per cent can be counted 

 upon to possess desirable characteristics, which will lie shown the first 

 year following that in which the seed is sown by the plants coming 

 into flower. The remainder can, if it is thought necessary, be dis- 

 carded and the good ones grown on for forcing, the size necessary for 

 which will be attained the season following, or within two years from 

 the time the seeds are sown. The very best of these seedlings, some 

 of which will undoubtedly show superiority in several ways over the 

 parents, can be retained for seed, and by keeping up the system of 

 selection there will develop in a very few years strains from seed 

 which will be superior to most of the plants placed upon the market 

 at the present day. 



In beginning the work of bulb growing in the United States along 

 entirely new lines there seemed little probability of securing stock 

 from the Bermudas or Japan for vegetative reproduction, which 

 could be relied upon as absolutely free from disease. There are locali- 

 ties in the Bermudas where lilies are growing which appear to be quite 

 healthy; there is, however, a danger of the bulbs being more or less 

 contaminated, owing to the close proximity of the districts where the 



