370 



GENERAL REVIEW. 



engraving. Seeds of Z. auratum, L. speriosum, and other 

 hardy kinds, may be sown in spring on open-air beds, raised 

 slightly above the general ground-level so as to avoid damp. 



What a field of improvement is here open to the skilful hybri- 

 diser ! Hardy flowers with the substance and purity of colour 

 of the finest tropical Orchids, plenty of fertile pollen, and seeds 



a 



Lily-scale, predicting 

 bulbils. 



Scaly bulb of the White Lily (Lilium candiduiti), 

 with the tuft of leaves ivhich it produces, bl, Tlie 

 bulb itself ; ec, Scales which it forms. 



that grow readily, what can a cross-breeder want more ? Well, 

 everything looks fair enough, but the truth is that hybridising 

 Lilies is up-hill work, as the seedlings, although the result of care- 

 ful hybridism, either resemble the male or the female parent.* 

 Still hybrids, and very beautiful ones too, have been obtained. 

 Of nearly all the species there are varieties, and this seems 

 especially the case with L. martagon, of which Parkinson de- 

 scribes and figures several forms in 1629. Nearly all the 



* Mr Parkman's experience in hybridising Lilies goes to prove that L. 

 speciosum may be fertilised with pollen of L. auratum. Nevertheless the 

 seedlings which result from this union are in nearly every instance exactly 

 like the female parent. L. Parkmannii was the only intermediate he suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining after several years' labour. 



