212 NOTES ON LILIES 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



IT lias been my object throughout this little work 



To obtain a correct nomenclature of all the Lilies, added to such 

 descriptions as may enable amateurs at once to recognise the principal 

 forms and varieties. 



To give such instruction ,as to culture, both general and particular, 

 as may enable Lily growers to contend successfully against the 

 peculiarities of the soil and climate of their respective localities. 



To impart such information about Bulbs, their reproduction, 

 disease, and growth, as may enable and encourage cultivators to make 

 further observations on points which are yet obscure, but which, when 

 cleared up, will afford valuable assistance to Lily growers. 



To encourage the collection and expedition to this country of new 

 and rare forms, and the production of new varieties. 



To attain their ends, I have thought it best not to put forward at 

 length my own views and opinions, which, being formed from a few 

 years' practice on the light and heavy soils of Colchester, must 

 necessarily be somewhat limited, but rather to describe the modes of 

 culture practised by numerous successful Lily growers in various parts 

 of Great Britain and elsewhere, and to quote their opinions, inter- 

 spersing a few remarks of my own, more especially citing the manner 

 in which certain difficulties in soil, aspect, and locality have been 

 evaded or overcome. Hence, though it will be remarked that the 

 portion of the work which has been written by me bears but a smalt 

 proportion [to the whole, my excuse for this is, that as no two Lily 

 growers have precisely the same soil and difficulties to contend with, 

 they will be best instructed by perusing the varied experience and 

 opinions, of a large number of observers, in many parts, and of 

 learning the different views held by different authorities, rather than 

 by being led by the ipse dixit of one individual. 



I am under obligations, which I am glad here gratefully to 

 acknowledge, (a) to Professor Baker, of Kew, whose valuable labours 

 I am permitted to reproduce in the form of The Synopsis, chap, ix., 

 by means of which any Lily may at once be referred to its proper 

 group and place; and through whom the difficulties of incorrect 

 nomenclature, which at one time seemed insuperable, owing to so- 

 many names having been given sometimes to one form, sometimes to 

 another form, without discrimination, by popular authors, have been 

 cleared up, and a clear chart left for us to work by ; (6) to Mr. 

 Burbidge for his valuable paper on Bulbs and their delineations, by 

 means of which much light has been thrown on a subject, which to 

 many was excessively obscure, but which now may easily be mastered, 

 and by the help of the numerous woodcuts, made familiar to every 



