8 BULLETIN 1331, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
necessary to dig the stocks as soon as the flowers fade, but it will take © 
two months longer for the seed to mature, making it altogether too 
late that year for vegetative propagation except in the warmer long- 
seasoned sections of the country. 
The season is commonly rather too short on Puget Sound to. 
mature seed out of doors. When a set is obtained, however, the stems 
can be cut on the advent of cool weather and put in water in a warm 
room or greenhouse, where they will complete their development. 
It must be remembered that heat is necessary to finish this maturity, 
because the pods decay under low temperatures even indoors where 
no water gets on them. | 
SOILS 
The Madonna lily is adapted to a great variety of soils, but the 
grower who produces in quantity will be fortunate if he has a rich 
sandy loam, well drained but with a good moisture content from late 
August to June. Any good loam will do, but it must be well drained, 
friable, and, above all, not what is commonly designated as cold or 
plastic clay. ; 
Liming is usually advised for this lily both in England and in 
this country, but some of the best successes are often attained without 
its use. The Department of Agriculture has had as good success in 
the Pacific Northwest on unlimed as on limed soils, the former being 
but two years ameliorated by culture alone from the usually acid 
forest. floor. 
SOILS THAT HEAVE SHOULD BE AVOIDED 
On the heavy retentive Whatcom silt loams of Puget Sound the 
bulbs of this lly are likely to be heaved out of the ground in late 
winter. At times, when the lifting action is less severe, the injury 
may be quite serious without moving the bulbs. It is a peculiar 
effect. 
This lily, as is well known, starts growth in August and goes 
through the winter in vegetative condition. There is a rosette of 
basal leaves which should go through the winter uninjured. These 
leaves develop from the inner scales of the bulbs. When the pull on 
them is exerted by the heaving action of successive freezes, their 
weaker tissues finally rupture. These tissues are located at the base 
of the scales at the attachment to the basal plate of the bulb. The 
result is that the leaves soon wilt. and die, and the scales, 6 to 10 or 
more in number, remain loose in the neck of the bulb, as shown in 
Plate I, Figure 2, until digging time, when they drop out, leaving the 
bulbs very much disfigured and not suitable for commercial use, 
although satisfactory for continued growth and often even for 
forcing. 
The pulling loose of these inner scales does not destroy the grow- 
ing point, and the plants consequently blossom all right the season 
following the injury as well as the subsequent one, but, of course, 
with reduced vigor, as the destruction of the leafage robs them of 
just that much of their elaborating surface, which normally fune- 
tions until the plants blossom. 
