TIL. iis 
as many distinctive names, when none other could possi- 
bly see the points of difference. ‘The Lily is one of the 
few plants that we think has never been improved by 
hybridization, or cross-fertilization. Efforts without 
number have been made in this direction, many of 
which we have watched with the greatest interest and 
with the closest attention, yet we cannot note a single 
instance where there has been the slightest improvement 
in the flower, in any respect. On the contrary, we have 
usually noticed a decrease in the vigor of the plant, and 
the quality of the flower. It seems to us that every step 
in this direction has been a step backward; that nature 
has exhausted her resources in the perfection of the 
species, and regards as an interference all efforts of man 
to improve her work. There are now under cultivation 
many seedlings from the species that, in some points of 
marking, are to be preferred to the parent; this we con- 
sider the result of their natural tendency to variation, 
rather than the result of any systematic effort for im- 
provement. High cultivation, which includes careful 
protection against cold, heat, drouth and water, all of 
which points will be duly considered, is the great secret 
of improvement; a proper amount of attention in this 
direction will increase the vigor of the plants, the size, 
number and general character of the flowers. 
It does not seem necessary to improve, or, rather, 
to attempt an improvement on that which is already 
perfect, as the Lily is, wherever found in its native 
habitat. Nature has endowed the Lily with every ele- 
ment of grace and beauty, not only in outline, but in 
color, or the happy blending of colors, in forms most 
varied and beautiful, in fragrance delightful; in short, 
in all the characters essential to real beauty. Certainly, 
the ease with which many varieties produced their 
rapid increase, has placed them in the list of common 
plants, as though a plant must be difficult to manage, or 
