May, 191 •> 
T HE G A R 1) E N MAGAZIN E 
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stalks have dried and fallen, dig up your 
old bulbs of L. candidum and remove the 
scales. Bend the scales outward, using care 
Raising lilies from seed, showing depth to plant, compost and drainage (2} inch pot) 
the same purpose, or even a loose pile 
will suffice. There are plenty of maples, 
elms, and box-elders along many city 
streets. Your neighbors will thank you 
for removing their leaves. They don’t 
realize what they are losing. Usually they 
burn them. If you want r to have well 
rotted mold ready by the next spring, get 
all the old cabbage leaves you can to mix 
with the rest of the leaves. They decay 
rapidly and supply a culture medium for 
the propagation of millions of bacteria 
which spread through the whole pile and 
bring about its rapid decomposition. Try 
it. The mild winters of the Western and 
Southern states permit the leaves to decay 
more quickly than they do in colder regions. 
You will have to learn the best exposure 
for your lilies yourself. Some particular 
part of the garden will be found to be best 
adapted for their culture. It is not wise to 
go to the extreme of trying to imitate ex- 
actly the condition found where any partic- 
ular species grows wild. It is safe to give 
the majority of the species one kind of 
treatment that is a mean between their 
various natural environments. I have found 
the best position to be in the shade of de- 
ciduous trees of loose habit. I prefer full 
sun to complete shade. Never place the 
bulbs close to the exposed south wall of a 
building. 
After you have conquered the problems 
of soil and exposure, you will be ready to 
extend your efforts to broader fields. Don’t 
be satisfied with a small annual increase in 
your stock of bulbs. Try multiplying them 
by means of detached scales, or if they can 
be induced to bear seed, raise young seed- 
lings. The results will be gratifying. 
GROWING FROM SCALES 
It is an easy matter to have hundreds of 
the Madonna lily (Lilium candidum) 
growing, if you have the room for them. 
This is not an idle conjecture but comes as 
the result of actual trial, in several instances 
by persons inexperienced in the fine arts of 
gardening. About midsummer, after the 
An ideal lily situation, the roots are kept cool and well 
drained. (Gold banded lily among rhododendrons) 
to see that they snap off near their junction 
with the base of the bulb. Use only the 
outer scales and replant the small central 
part of the bulb left. A good old bulb will 
supply fifty or more scales which are large 
and firm enough to use in propagation. 
Fill a shallow box or seed fiat with sand 
to the depth of an inch and a half. Press 
the scales into the sand in an approximately 
vertical position. Then fill the box with 
sand and press it down so as to leave a final 
depth of two and a half or three inches. An 
ordinary flat, eighteen inches square and 
three inches deep, will hold two hundred 
scales. Keep the fiats well watered and in 
less than a month you will be able to make 
out one or two little buds arising from the 
base of each scale. It is a good idea to 
keep yourself informed as to the state of 
growth by digging down occasionally into 
one corner of the flat. It doesn’t hurt the 
scales, and it will often prevent disaster. 
By the middle of fall you should have 
fair sized little bulbels formed, and they 
should throw up one or two leaves. At this 
stage they should be transplanted to a 
specially prepared bed in the open. If 
this is impracticable, sprinkle some fine 
bone-meal over the surface of the flat and 
work it into the sand. Get as much growth 
as you can the first year. A few will bloom 
the third year, and after that you will be 
able to display this exquisite lily in profus- 
ion. Just think of the show that even two 
hundred of these lilies would make. 
Lilium candidum is about the easiest of 
the lilies to reproduce by means of scales. 
Still, there are several others almost as 
easy for the beginner. The varieties of L. 
longiflorum are all easy to propagate by 
means of scales, but you will not get such a 
large percentage of bulbels for the number 
of scales planted. The tiger lily (L. tig- 
rinum) is another easy one. L. testaceum 
is so much like candidum that it should 
prove a tractable subject. It is rather ex- 
pensive but that is all the more reason 
for trying it. Your returns will be greater 
if you do succeed. The natives of California 
are not difficult if you perform the opera- 
tion early in Autumn. The leopard lily is 
especially amenable to propagation by this 
method. 
LILIES FROM SEEDS 
You can purchase bulbs of practically 
all these lilies now, plant them out and have 
flowers this season. The Madonna lily 
however is best set out in late summer. 
You can also grow your lilies from seed. 
This is probably the surest way to combat 
the lily disease. Any plant will deteriorate 
when it is propagated for a series of genera- 
tions by vegetative means. By raising 
seedlings the resulting plants will have a 
greatly increased vitality. 
All of the western lilies produce good 
crops of seed. The coral lily (Lilium tenui- 
folium) can be relied upon to bear an 
abundance of seeds. It will bloom in from 
one to two years. You have to wait that 
long for your perennials. Lilium Henrvii 
is as easy to raise from seed as any gar- 
den vegetable. The lovely new L. myrio- 
phyllum and L. Sargentiae are equal to 
L. Henryii in this respect. 
It takes four years to raise the seedlings 
to blooming size. The secret of success 
lies in getting them safely over the first year. 
They should make as much growth as pos- 
sible during that year. Keep the soil light 
Lilies and poppies in wild planting effects 
