AND THE WILDERNESS BLOSSOMED 



oughly by remaining for a week or two In a box 

 with a free circulation of air, and in the sun for a 

 time each day. To pull each separate pod apart 

 and pick the seeds out would be found very 

 tedious, and you would get many unripe seeds 

 in this way. 



There are a large number of lilies offered by 

 the seedsmen, many of which are said to be per- 

 fectly hardy. My list of successes is but a brief 

 one, but there is no doubt that it may be mate- 

 rially increased by further experiment. The best 

 of all is undoubtedly Lilium auratum, the Golden- 

 banded Lily of Japan. The flowers are large, 

 blooming profusely on well-established plants, 

 and deliciously scented. On the island it blooms 

 from August 15th to September loth, and in my 

 experience it is perfectly hardy. I planted the 

 bulbs in two localities, one group being on the 

 terraces in full sunshine, in a well-drained soil, 

 through which water from the rocky ledges per- 

 colates during the summer. The others are on 

 the top of the hill, on the edges of a clump of 

 rosebushes and flowering shrubs. In the latter 

 place the plants grow scarcely more than three 

 feet high, and the flowers, though comparatively 

 k^i in number, are of enormous size. On the 



156 



