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THE MADONNA LILY 7 
PROPAGATION BY SEED 
Contrary to popular belief, the Madonna lily can be very readily 
reproduced from seed. ‘The seed is sown preferably one-half inch 
or less deep in any good potting greenhouse soil. It germinates 
in three weeks and can be picked off into 2-inch pots when in second 
leaf. If sown from November to January the plants will crowd in 
2-inch pots by about the middle of April and will be ready to be 
transferred to the field. The seedlings may be left in the flats and 
transferred directly into the open ground if care is taken, but it is 
better to pot up first. The seed can also be sown in frames or even 
in the open ground if a good seed bed is prepared. When sown in 
the open the seed should be covered about an inch deep. It can be 
sown in the autumn or preferably in very early spring in the climates 
of Puget Sound or Washington, D. C., but in very much colder 
localities very early spring seeding seems to be imperative. 
For out-of-door planting the writer prefers to put the seed in at 
the rate of four or more to the inch in rows 6 inches apart. The 
seedlings are left two years and then dug and spaced during their 
dormant season. 
Seed held under ordinary conditions will germinate readily in 
autumn or spring if the temperature and moisture conditions are 
suitable. It holds its viability perfectly until the second year, but 
after that it deteriorates rapidly and the third year is scarcely 
worth planting. 
MAKING A SEED CROP 
The Madonna lily is looked upon as a nonseeding species, and it is 
rare that seed is seen, though it is a good seed producer when con- 
ditions are suitable. Of its own volition it rarely seeds, because 
the structure of the flower is such that pollination is seldom effected, 
but when properly pollinated it seeds readily and quite abundantly. 
This has been demonstrated the past few years with several lots of 
seed which have been obtained from widely scattered localities. 
Some of these were accidental and others the result of hand 
pollinations. 
When seed is desired, the plants should be visited every morning. 
The writer has found that between 8 and 10 o’clock seems to be the 
proper time for pollinating under conditions obtaining at Washing- 
ton, D. C. At this time every stigma which is viscid should have 
freshly opened pollen applied to it. This can be accomplished with- 
out the use of instruments. Three to five seed pods to a plant are 
sufficient. Sometimes it will be found that the plants are short of 
pollen. If the whole stock is short, one can resort te the use of 
pollen from some other lily, a good one to use, if it can be had, 
being the Easter lily (Lzliwm longifiorum). This commonly gives 
a set of seed which produces true Liliwm candidum as though its 
own pollen were used. Usually, however, there is no difficulty in 
getting enough of its own pollen, but some colonies have been found 
which produced very little. 
The production of a crop of seed interferes very decidedly with 
any other form of propagation which one may want to perform. For 
any artificial vegetative propagation one may want to conduct it is 
