UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



.^l^^^u 



1 BULLETIN No. 962 



Contribution from tiie Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



August 12, 1921 



THE PRODUCTION OF THE EASTER LILY IN 

 NORTHERN CLIMATES. 



By David Griffiths, Hortlciiltiirist. Office of Hortivultural and Pomological 



Investif/ations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 The choice of method of propaga- 

 tion 1 



Production on a seedling l)asis 3 



Production on n vegetative basis 16 



Methods of pvopagation 21 



Controlling bulblet formation 24 



Soil for Easter lilies 24 



Soil fertility 25 



Page. 



Storage of bulbs 26 



Sizes of merchantable bulbs 27 



Varietal selections 28 



The Easter lily in beds and lx>rders_ 20 

 Lengthening the flower season out of 



doors :*.(• 



Reducing the cost of heat in forcing. 30 



Resistance to cold 31 



THE CHOICE OF METHOD OF PROPAGATION. 



IT IS ASSUMED that the grower of Easter lily stocks will start 

 with seedlings. He ma}^ sow seed each season, but it is more likely 

 that he will grow seedlings the hrst year and propagate vegetatively 

 thereafter. When vegetative propagation is chosen the plants must 

 be hardy enough to go througli tlie winters safely out of doors. It 

 has been amply demonstrated that the lily is sufficiently hardy in the 

 latitude of Washington, D. C\, to live through the winter either with 

 or without a little mulch. The probability is that it will be found 

 to be hardy very much farther north. If the grower goes back to 

 seed each year it makes no ditference whether the species is hardy 

 in his locality or not, for the plants will not be in the open ground 

 during the winter. 



The stock plants may be of any standard commercial variety, 

 or any two standard varieties may be crossed. Good results have 

 been obtained by cross-pollinating the varieties Giganteum and Har- 



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