160 LILIES 



scarlet lily we must have, and it shall be the lime- 

 loving L. pomponium, the true scarlet turk's cap, not 

 the scarlet variety of Pyrenean lily, with which it is apt 

 to be confused. Unluckily, it is not so easy to obtain 

 as could be desired, for although it has been grown in 

 England for three hundred years, and although its 

 home is not very remote from our shores, being 

 in the Maritime Alps, yet the supply is uncertain. 

 It is well worth an effort to possess the genuine 

 article. 



After all, have I not left out of the list that which I 

 began with, Lilium, auratuml I cannot consent to 

 forgo it ; it is too marvellous a flower to deny oneself. 

 True, it does not adapt itself to our climate as readily 

 as L. regale does, but treated during convalescence 

 after the sea voyage in the manner I have described, a 

 considerable percentage of the bulbs ought to take on 

 and become permanent residents, especially the robust 

 variety tnacranthv/m, usually named platyphyllv/m in 

 bulb catalogues. Travellers affirm that the Japanese 

 eat the bulbs of this noble plant even as we do the 

 potato. Nero's entrie of nightingale's tongues was not 

 a more heinous abuse. Unfortunately, mice, wireworms, 

 and the subterranean grubs of certain moths have 

 discovered the merits of this exotic delicacy, and from 

 time to time one loses a clump of the golden-rayed lily 

 which seemed to have come to stay. Nevertheless, 

 some do stay to illumine the September border year 

 after year with extravagant splendour. 



Let me finish this prose with a word of counsel to 

 gardeners and amateurs — the fruit of bitter experience. 



