32 BRITISH FLORAL DECORATION 



" Ah ! bid me sparkle forth in diamond dew 

 To share the triumph of that glorious hour, 



Strewing the pathway of my King and Queen, 

 The English Rose the Coronation Flower." 



M. How. 



DEAR SIR, I have seen in many papers, and among them 

 some of the leading " dailies, 11 that a vigorous attempt is 

 being made to establish the Lily of the Valley as the Corona- 

 tion flower, and I cannot refrain from taking up my pen to 

 defend the claims of the Queen of flowers, our grand National 

 Rose. 



The bare idea of having to defend it seems to me so pre- 

 posterous that I feel I ought to apologise to every good 

 English subject for seriously listening to such an idea as 

 the substitution of any flower for the Rose at the coronation 

 of a King of England. Unfortunately, however, the Lily 

 movement appears to be daily gaining ground, not so much, 

 I believe, with the people as with the great producers, to 

 whom I cannot help thinking the matter owes its origin. 



Passing over entirely the historical associations of the Rose 

 with the English Crown, hallowed by centuries, and ignoring 

 the fact that the Lily was once the royal flower of France, 

 I will confine myself purely to common-sense reasons why the 

 Lily should not be adopted. 



First of all, it is by no means as English a flower, in its 

 natural state, as the Rose. Secondly, more than nine- tenths 

 of the Lilies of everyday commerce are primarily produced 

 abroad, and are only finished, either by forcing or retarding, 

 in England. Thirdly, the comparatively few naturally grown 

 English Lilies of the Valley will be over by the end of June, 

 unless the season should happen to be a backward one, and 

 so we should have to fall back on the foreign growers for our 



