30 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1906 



that are hardy in the northern United States. 

 How could a man get bulbs of Lilium longi- 

 florum from the northernmost spot in Japan, 

 where they grow wild, I wonder ? Who has 

 grown Lilium longiflorum the farthest north 

 of any one in America ? 



Why isn't Lilium candidum good enough 

 for a hardy white lily? Because it is more 

 susceptible to disease than any other; be- 

 cause no one knows whether to plant it deep 

 or shallow, give manure or not, divide fre- 

 quently or leave alone. Plenty of people 

 have succeeded temporarily by opposite 

 methods; no one is sure of permanent suc- 

 cess and knows why. Can the facts be dis- 

 covered and proved? Can the difficulties 

 be overcome? There is a small fortune 

 waiting for the man who will first give us a 

 hardy white lily; possibly, also, a Garden 

 Magazine Achievement Medal. 



While there is no quick way of finding out 

 what the world wants there is an excellent 

 way of clarifying your ideas as to what the 

 market does and does not get. Make a 

 chart like the one on this page, which shows 

 at a glance the kinds of lilies we do not have. 



In order to do this consider what are the 

 two most valuable characteristics of the 

 group of plants in which you are interested. 

 In this case, the shape and color of the 

 flowers are clearly the most important items. 

 Therefore, range your important colors 

 across the page and the shapes down one 

 side. Try to fill each space with the name 

 of the best variety of that shape and color. 

 In this case there were so many good varieties 

 in certain squares that I have made two 

 tables, one for the spotted lilies and one for 

 the lilies without spots. 



Now see what interesting flashlights such 

 a chart throws upon our problem. Consider 

 the spotted lilies. Practically all of them 

 are turban-shaped, and it is evident that in 

 this class there is room for a yellow tiger lily. 

 The tiger lily is the commonest and cheapest 

 of all lilies, the easiest to grow and one of the 

 most permanent. Why should we not have 

 this type in all colors, with and without 

 spots? Evidently the tiger lily should be 

 the basis of the plant breeder's work, because 

 it has every desirable quality except a wide 

 range of colors. 



The other spotted lily of supreme impor- 

 tance is Lilium speciosum. It is one of the 

 most informal-growing lilies; the tiger lily 

 one of the most formal. The rosy pink 

 form of Lilium speciosum is the common- 

 est, and the best for general purposes. The 

 white variety, I fear, is neither so robust nor 

 attractive. We have two series of colors in 

 lilies — -the strong ones red, orange, yellow, 

 and the delicate ones white and pink. No 

 species has been known to cross the color 

 line. But why should we not have white 

 and pink tiger lilies? Or Lilium speciosum 

 in red, orange and yellow? I should think 

 it would be worth $100 to create any of these 

 varieties. I don't want a blue lily or a green 

 or purple one ; and I believe the world does not, 

 any more than it wants such monstrosities 

 as blue roses, carnations, chrysanthemums 

 or peonies. 



As to the unspotted lilies, the chart shows 



The best Easter lily we have is the so-called 

 " Bermuda " lily (L. longiflorum, var. eximium), but the 

 getting of healthy bulbs is too much of a lottery. 

 Something radical must be done 



that we have no funnel-shaped flowers in 

 red or orange ; no cup-shaped flowers in white 

 or pink; and no turban-shaped flowers in the 

 latter colors. All these combinations would 

 seem to be attractive, and the chart suggests 

 how to go at them, e. g., the first by crossing 

 L. longiflorum and L. tigrinum; the second, 



L. elegans and L. candidum; the third, L. 

 tigrinum and L. speciosum, var. album. 



All this sounds delightfully simple. The 

 trouble is it doesn't work. Nothing is easier 

 than to cross lilies, because the flowers are 

 so large, but nothing ever comes of the crosses. 

 You get seeds and they grow and look won- 

 derfully unlike in their young stages, .but 

 when they come into flower they are the 

 same old thing. Peter Barr once told me 

 that he had about an acre of lily seedlings. 

 He spent no end of time hybridizing lilies, 

 collecting seed, sowing it, and gloating over 

 his thousands of young plants, no two of 

 which were alike, but when they bloomed 

 did he get anything new ? Not one solitary lily. 



"I saved P ," exclaimed Mr. Barr, 



naming a famous American botanical ex- 

 plorer. "I saved him from wasting his life 

 trying to grow lily hybrids. He had started 

 into the business and I warned him in time." 



It is a singular thing that no lily hybrids of 

 importance have ever been produced. True, 

 the nankeen lily (Lilium testaceum) looks like 

 a hybrid, and its native country is unknown. 



Who will solve this mystery for us ? Why 

 is it so easy to cross lilies and so hard to 

 "break the type." Who will give us lilies 

 the world really needs — not a trifling lot of 

 varieties which are just a little different from 

 those mentioned in this table? And who 

 can tell us varieties that are better than any 

 that are named in this connection? The 

 columns of The Garden Magazine are open 

 to anyone who can carry our knowledge of 

 the subject beyond this point. 



THE BEST SPOTTED LILIES 



Funnel 

 Bell.... 



Cup. . . 

 Turban 



speciosum 

 var. album 



speciosum 



tigrinum 



speciosum 



var. Melpomene 



superbum 



Henryi 

 pardalinum 

 puberulum 



Leichtlinii 



THE BEST UNSPOTTED LILIES 



Funnel 

 Bell. . . . 

 Cup. . . 

 Turban 



WHITE 



PINK 



RED 



ORANGE 



YELLOW 



PRIMROSE 





Japonicum 











longiflorum 



var. roseum 







Parryi 





candidum 



rubellum 



Canadense 



Canadense 



Canadense 









elegans, var. 



elegans, var. 



elegans, var. 



elegans, var. 







Best Red 



fulgens 





alutaceum 







tenuifolium 





partheneion 



testaceum 







Chalcedonicum 





monadelphum 





A chart showing the best lilies of every shape and color. The blanks show which types have no hardy representa- 

 tives in cultivation. A method of indicating opportunities for the plant breeder which can be adapted to any group 

 of plants. The Pacific Coast species are L. pardalinum, puberulum and Parryi. 



