AMERICAN BULBS UNDER GLASS 15 
Bulbs indistinguishable from the imported stocks have recently 
been produced on rather wet peat soil in Florida, solving conclusively 
the riddle connected with the production of these bulbs. There seems 
to be no question now that the peat and muck soils of both Florida 
and California will produce the oriental form of this popular 
narcissus. 
LILIES 
The writer considers that the lilies yield in attractiveness and 
jorospective success to no other in the entire group of bulbous plants. 
Some lilies are satisfactorily produced in this country, and there 
ivre likely to be others shortly. None, however, are yet produced in 
sufficient quantity to supply more than a small portion of the 
demand. 
THE REGAL LILY 
The commercial status of the Regal lily {Lilium regale, pi. 6), 
after 12 or more years of study and handling, much advertising, and 
unstinted praise, is still somewhat chaotic. The greater part of the 
bulbs put on the market are small, ranging from 10 to 11 centimeters 
in circumference, and usually give only one to three flowers whether 
grown under glass or outside. Some growers market bulbs as early 
as the end of the first growing season from the seed bed. This has 
created a prejudice in some quarters against the species for florists' 
use, because of its so-called " shy " blossoming. 
The real trouble is with the size and age of the bulbs put on the 
market. It is believed that commercial sizes of this lily will prove 
to be above 18 centimeters. To make this character of bulb will 
require the best of culture for three years, although there will usu- 
ally be plenty of blossoms the second year, many plants giving as 
high as five or six. The Department of Agriculture has produced 
20-centimeter bulbs the second year, but only from seedlings started 
inside in late fall, repotted from the field before frost, and handled 
without loss of roots. 
The writer's seven years of experience in the culture of this lily 
seems to indicate that this is a long-lived one and that its proper 
reproduction is from seed and not from bulblets. There is a serious 
question whether the lily produces bulblets to any appreciable extent 
when the situation and conditions under which it is grown are con- 
genial to it. Pinching off the flowers, it is asserted, has a tendency 
to produce bulblets, but this has not been evident in the cultures 
of the department. Heavy clay soils with bad drainage or the 
presence of too much decaying organic matter (particularly raw 
manure) in contact with the bulbs have always induced an abundant 
production of bulblets on the stem, but in every case which has 
come under observation this has been accompanied with either a lack 
of proper development or, more commonly, an actual imperfection 
in the main bulb. It is more than likely that an abundant forma- 
tion of bulblets is inimical to the production of good forcing stocks 
and that the grower has here a very good barometer of the suit- 
ability of his situation to the production of commercial stocks of this 
]ily. These facts are well portrayed in Plate 6 and the accompany- 
ing legend. The Department of Agriculture stocks have been grown 
