THE REGAL LILY 11 
Commercial fertilizers give satisfactory results when properly ap- 
plied. In the experiments at Bellingham, Wash., fine-ground com- 
mercial raw bone meal has worked well. This is almost invariably 
a safe fertilizer. Here the Dutch method of planting is used with 
the Regal as well as with other lilies. The beds are excavated to 
a depth of 4 inches or more, as previously described. The bone meal 
is applied in the bottom of the depression at the rate of about 1,500 
pounds to the acre and then mixed with the soil by running a wheel 
hoe with cultivator-teeth attachment working from 4 to 6 inches 
deep about three times lengthwise of the bed. This with subsequent 
smoothing with a hand rake gives a good mix, and no burning or 
other injury to the bulbs occurs. It is very likely that in spring 
planting 1 or 2 per cent of the bone meal could profitably be replaced 
by tankage, as one grower is now doing with the Easter lily to good 
advantage. This may not be so advantageous with fall transplant- 
ing of the Regal lily. 
Less knowledge is available on the use of the ordinary chemicals, 
but still suggestions based on considerable experience will meet the 
probable requirements. On Puget Sound decidedly beneficial re- 
sults have been obtained from the use of acid phosphate alone as a 
supplement to large crops of rye and vetch turned under on newly 
cleared forest land. Good results have been had from the use of 
about a 4-8-4 mixture of commercial fertilizer applied at the rate 
of 1,500 to 2,000 pounds per acre on the Arlington Experiment Farm. 
In one case an application in early June to seedling beds set in April 
using the above formula at the rate of 1,200 pounds to the acre 
seemed to be very satisfactory. The fertilizer in this case was dis- 
tributed between the 6-inch rows by hand without allowing contact 
with the young seedlings and was then washed into the soil. 
A chemical fertilizer comparatively high in potash is believed 
to be necessary for best results. The grower can not go far wrong if 
‘he employs the formula which has been worked out as best for 
potatoes in his region and uses about the same quantity as is com- 
monly applied for that crop. 
SEED PRODUCTION 
In order to insure an abundant seed crop in this lily it is neces- 
sary to hand-pollinate the flowers, although a considerable natural 
pollination occurs. It is thought that most of the unaided fertiliza- 
tion is a selif-pollination, which is not so effective as cross-polli- 
nation. 
All the stocks grown by the department are from one bulb which, 
of course, was self-pollinated the first year. After that promis- 
cuous crossing has been the practice. 
How this work is done matters but little. The approved method 
is to apply pollen to the stigma with a camel’s-hair brush, but in a 
flower with such large parts there is no reason why pollination 
should not be accomplished by pinching off the anther with thumb 
and forefinger and brushing the pollen over the stigma of another 
plant without the use of forceps, brush, or any other tool. 
How much influence the production of a seed crop has on the 
development of the bulb crop has not been determined, but it is 
well recognized that in the tulip and many other bulb genera better 
yields are obtained when seed production is prevented. The same 
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