CHAPTER X 



LILIES AS CUT FLOWERS 



There can be no two opinions about the beauty 

 of Lilies as cut flowers for the house. The only 

 objection that can be made to them in this use is 

 that some have too strong a scent. This is especially 

 the case with auratums, which are therefore more 

 suitable for a hall or entrance than for an actual 

 sitting-room. The lovely candidum is also rather 

 strong in a room, though to many the scent is so 

 welcome, as one of the sweet smells of high summer- 

 tide, that it is liked in the sitting-room as well as in 

 the garden. No possible objection on this account 

 can be raised against longiflorum or speciosum, two 

 of the very best room Lilies, whether cut or in pots. 

 When arranged as cut flowers their nobility of aspect 

 necessarily restricts the choice of kinds of foliage 

 to be put with them. Nothing small or petty can 

 come near these Lilies ; the leafage that is put with 

 them must have some kind of dignity of its own. 

 Lilium longiflorum may have enough of its own 

 foliage, but if any is added it should be something 

 of the same dark colouring and high polish, such as 

 Magnolia grandiflora, of which a well-grown tree 

 can always spare a branch or two, or a bough of a 



