CONSIDER THE LILIES 33 



flowering stem bears masses of roots. These help to 

 feed the growing stem and prevent undue exhaustion 

 of the bulb. After flowering this root system assists 

 in the rehabilitation of the bulb. Roots emitted 

 from the stem above the ground quickly perish. An 

 appreciation of these facts shows the necessity of deep 

 planting. The bulbs of all stem-rooting Lilies (and 

 the majority are such) should be planted twice their 

 own depth down. That is to say, a bulb three inches 

 high should have six inches of soil covering it and so 

 on in proportion. The importance of deep planting 

 is not sufficiently understood, but go and dig up a few 

 Lily bulbs from their native haunts and it will be 

 found they are usually deeper down than twice their 

 height. 



The majority of Lilies are at rest, or nearly so, dur- 

 ing the winter months but all kinds benefit from plant- 

 ing as early in the fall as is possible. 



The Madonna Lily (L. candidum) is an exception in 

 several ways. In the first place, it resents moving. 

 When this has to be done it should be undertaken not 

 later than six weeks after flowering as the resting 

 period of this Lily is unusually short. Again, it 

 should be noted that this Lily has a mass of broad 

 basal leaves independent of the flowering stem and it 

 is these leaves with the assistance of the roots that 



