CONSIDER THE LILIES 21 



of Lily that pleased his fancy, but knowledge and 

 care will teach what particular kinds can successfully 

 be grown and in time convince the enthusiast that he 

 must be content with a limited number. Such 

 knowledge may be of slow growth and painfully 

 acquired but such we value most. 



Now, in passing, let us devote a few moments to 

 considering the noblest of all the Lilies — L. auratum, 

 the "Golden-rayed Lily of Japan." How many 

 millions of bulbs of this Lily have been imported; 

 how many thousands of purchasers have been disap- 

 pointed; how many letters protesting, or seeking 

 advice, have been penned? This wonderful Lily 

 flowered first in this country in 1862, in the garden 

 of Francis Parkman, the historian, at Jamaica Plain, 

 Mass., having been received from Japan through Mr. 

 F. Gordon Dexter. In July, 1862, it flowered in Eng- 

 land, for the first time in Europe, with Messrs. Veitch, 

 from bulbs sent from Japan by their collector, John 

 Gould Veitch. 



The Japanese eat the bulbs of Lilium auratum and 

 several other species, but for its beauty they do not 

 esteem it or any other true Lily — they never did. 

 But in due time, after intercourse was established 

 between Japan and western nations, largely through 

 the vigorous action in 1853-54, of Commodore Perry 



