172 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



are sweet-scented, while a very few lilies are so ; most 

 of them are scentless, and some are quite offensive ; 

 and the lily does not bear picking as the rose does. 

 A rose-bush in full flower can spare many flowers and 

 yet not lose its beauty ; you cannot pick single flowers 

 from a spike of lilies without spoiling its symmetry, 

 and it is almost a cruelty to cut down the spikes 

 entirely, for they can only be utilised in tall vases. 



In another respect, too, lilies are curiously different 

 from roses. I know of only two species which produce 

 double flowers, the white and the pompone, and these 

 doubles are both ugly. But the roses seem to have a 

 natural tendency to vary with double flowers; they 

 can be counted by hundreds, and are increasing every 

 year, and they are all beautiful flowers. 



Though I know by experience the difficulty of grow- 

 ing many of the lilies, and though I recognise that in 

 some points they fall short of the popularity of the 

 rose, yet I would advise all to try as many species as 

 they can procure. They will not succeed with all, but 

 success with any will give a character to any garden. 

 I am not very successful with them, yet no flowers that 

 I grow give more pleasure to my friends and myself, 

 or add so much to the gaiety of the garden. I think 

 that Englishmen never have for the lily the same affec- 

 tion that they have for the rose, their feeling for it is 



