THE EASTER LILY ]X NORTHERN CLIMATES. 



13 



NATURE AND APPEARANCE OF THE SEEDLINGS REPOTTED FROM THE FIELD. 



As will be noted from the statements made on previous pages, the 

 seedlings at potting time are exceedingly variable, the greatest varia- 

 tion occurring in the time at which they flower first, but there are also 

 great differences of form aside from mere stature. (See fig. 6.) 



As has been stated, the early-flowering plants are short, 12 or 15 

 inches high, but those in full bud at repotting time are 2 to 2^ feet 

 high and bear three to five flowers or more, while the first ones to 

 oi3en have one or two flowers as a rule. 



\ 



Fig. 7. — Easter lily seedliugs. Seed plautoci January 1, 1919 ; pricked off in March ; 

 set in the field May 1 ; blossomed in late July; photographed October 0, 1919. Two 

 of the bulbs are doubh^ nosed ; all are (!r. to 8 inches in circumference. 



Below those showing buds there are plants in all stages of growth. 

 Some have a few inches to a foot of stem with no buds showing, 

 while others present a varying degree of basal leaf development 

 with no signs of stem growth. It is in this late group, which has 

 the most prolific development of basal leaves, that the grower will 

 find the most robust plants and also the most floriferous ones. It 

 is not at all uncommon for these, when the flower stem appears, to 

 show very large ones bearing 8 to 15 flowers. 



Of all the field stocks thus handled, the preference is for the late- 

 flowering forms, wliich bear a luxuriant growth of basal leaves, form- 

 ing a large rosette at the surface of the ground at repotting time. 



