ACHIEVING SUCCESS 

 WITH THE MADONNA LILY 



E. E. TRUMBULL, ^rk 

 Moisture Is Kept at the Roots by Putting a Layer of Clay Beheath the Bed 



jN A neighborhood where other growers have gradually 

 lost their plants, there is one garden where the classic 

 Madonna Lily flourishes, and this photograph is the 

 evidence. This vigorous growth and abundant bloom 

 were achieved by one painstaking woman, on soil naturally 

 very light and porous, after several early attempts had been 

 rewarded by short stalks with few and small flowers. 



This is the way that success was achieved: The earth was 

 removed altogether from the space of a new bed, to a depth 

 of about two feet. In the bottom of this excavation a wagon 

 load of clay soil was spread evenly, and on top of this about 

 two inches of well rotted stable manure. Then the normal 

 earth was restored, and the bulbs set with their tops about 

 four inches below the surface. 



During the growing and blooming season, an abundance 



of water is given the bed, the clay bottom helping to retain 

 the moisture at the depth where the roots are most benefited 

 by it. The bulbs are never disturbed until they crowd badly, 

 when they aredug — in August, after ripening, which is indicated 

 by the tops dying — and reset. The conditions established 

 by this treatment are so favorable that about a bushel of 

 extra bulbs is harvested whenever this occurs. 



The flowers are cut when the first bud on the stalk is ready 

 to open, and cut with long stems without injury to the bulbs 

 in the succeeding year, though this is contrary to the general 

 belief with regard to cutting Lilies. In this way the blooms 

 are kept clean when they open. If allowed to expand on the 

 plant they are soon soiled by their own pollen and the white 

 crystalline lustre is killed. Needless to say, they are never 

 permitted to form seed. 



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