THE LILIES 
ing apart like wings. Others, again, have three 
or four or five’ petals. The great bulk, how- 
ever, have the normal six. The variation in 
color is extreme, ranging from white to dark 
purple, through surprising changes of com- 
binations. The methods of growth are equally 
curious. Many stems bear all the flowers at 
the top, almost level, a new system for lilies, 
and especially useful in garden grouping. One 
such plant two and a half feet high carries 
fifty-six flowers. A tall spike of golden brown 
lilies, of L. Humboldtu type, carries ninety-one 
flowers and is four feet high. 
“In form, size, color, fragrance, this field of 
hybridized lily flowers is a revelation. There 
is certainly nothing like it elsewhere in 
America, and I do not know of any place in 
Europe where such a collection can be found. 
We came out of the field yellow and brown 
from head to foot with lily pollen.” 
Comparatively little had been done by any 
one to treat lily culture in a broad manner, 
until Mr. Burbank took it up;—certainly no 
one had ever attempted it upon such a gigan- 
tic scale as this. The lily was recognized as 
an exceedingly difficult plant upon which to 
103 
