In the Sierra 



vum). The tallest are from seven to eight 

 feet high with magnificent racemes of ten 

 to twenty or more small orange-colored 

 flowers; they stand out free in open ground, 

 with just enough grass and other compan- 

 ion plants about them to fringe their feet, 

 and show them off to best advantage. This 

 is a grand addition to my lily acquaintances, 

 a true mountaineer, reaching prime vigor 

 and beauty at a height of seven thousand 

 feet or thereabouts. It varies, I find, very 

 much in size even in the same meadow, not 

 only with the soil, but with age. I saw a 

 specimen that had only one flower, and an- 

 other within a stone's throw had twenty- 

 five. And to think that the sheep should be 

 allowed in these lily meadows! after how 

 many centuries of Nature's care planting 

 and watering them, tucking the bulbs in 

 snugly below winter frost, shading the ten- 

 der shoots with clouds drawn above them 

 like curtains, pouring refreshing rain, mak- 

 ing them perfect in beauty, and keeping 

 [ 125 ] 



