1873. ] 
LILY MRS. ANTHONY WATERER 
07 
LILY MRS. ANTHONY WATERER 
[Plate 
UK figure of lliis beautiful variety, wliieli 
is probably tbe first well-authenticated 
hybrid Lily, was made from plants 
growing in the nursery of Mr. Anthony 
Waterer, at Knap Hill, Surrey. It is a hybrid 
produced by L. speciosum rubrum fertilised by 
L. duration, and as will be seen, is of the 
speciosum type, but with sufficient evidence of 
the influence of its pollen parent. The habit 
is that of L. speciosum , and the flowers are of 
large size, pure white, richly spotted with 
crimson. The hybrid was raised by Mr. G. 
Thomson, then living as gardener at Stansted 
Park, Emsworth, Hants, now Garden Super¬ 
intendent at the Crystal Palace, who has 
obligingly furnished the following particulars 
of its history :— 
‘An 18G7 I first flowered Lilium duration, 
and with pollen taken from its flowers I fer¬ 
tilised those on a plant of Lilium speciosum 
rubrum. Only one seed-bearing pod was ob¬ 
tained, and this contained but few seeds, which 
were sown in a pan, and kept in a cold frame. 
At this distance of time I cannot state exactly 
how long the seeds were in germinating, but 
my impression is that nice little bulbs were 
formed by the spring of the following year, one 
of these being the hybrid Lily Mrs. Anthony 
Waterer. 
“ This Lily has had an eventful life. The 
first misfortune which befell it was during its 
first resting period, when the pan containing it 
was, by inadvertence, emptied out under the 
potting-bench, the result being the loss of most 
of the seedlings. It came into flower in July, 
1870, and was exhibited before the Floral 
Committee at Kensington, where it was awarded 
a First-class Certificate, under the name of 
Purity. I may here mention a quality which 
I considered this Lily to possess above all 
others, and which, I believe, it still retains— 
namely, endurance. It was in flower for three 
or four days before it was cut and sent to 
London ; from the time I sent it until I received 
it back a week elapsed, and it was kept in 
water for some days after that. I understood 
Mr. Anthony Waterer to say that it was with 
him more enduring than any Lily he knew, 
which quite accords with my experience. 
“ Returning to the history of the hybrid, I 
may mention that I left Stansted Park soon 
after having flowered it, and it was then placed 
in the hands of a London nurseryman to keep 
for me; but unfortunately, in the anxiety to 
make more of it, it was as nearly lost as possible. 
When I was appointed to the superintendence 
No. 7. IMPERIAL SERIES.—I. 
•170.] 
of the Gardens at the Crystal Palace, 1 asked 
to have it back, when I again flowered it. 
Knowing, as I then did, how successful Mr. A. 
Waterer was in cultivating the Lilium duration 
in the open ground, and believing that to be 
the only way to grow these Lilies, with a view 
to reproduction, I was glad to have the oppor¬ 
tunity of placing it under his care, and the 
result has been that, after many vicissitudes, 
the first authenticated Lily Hybrid has found 
a good home, where it will soon be grown in 
quantity sufficient to warrant its being offered 
to the public—a fit companion for the gorgeous 
Lilium Parhnanni. 
“With the introduction and flowering of 
Lilium duration in 1862, we seem to have 
entered on a new era in the history of Lilies. 
The Tj. speciosum , till then the finest Lily known, 
became eclipsed by the greater beauty of A. 
duration, which is now so extensively grown 
and so well known that little need be said of it, 
further than to mention that what was then 
predicted of it has been far more than realised, 
and instead of its growing 4 ft. high, with from 
four to five flowers on a stem, it has been 
grown 8 ft. to 10 ft. high, or even more, and 
in some instances single stems have borne fifty, 
sixty, or even seventy flowers. 
“ Perhaps no plant has been imported into 
this country in greater quantities than this 
Lily, which sufficiently shows the high estima¬ 
tion in which it has been held. I believe this 
fact also shows that for a long time its culti¬ 
vation was misunderstood ; indeed, I imagine 
that many thousands are lost annually, because 
growers will persist in drying-off the bulb3. 
Now, it is one thing to rest a plant, and quite 
another thing to dry it off, as it is called. I 
believe that the roots of Lilies are always 
active when in the ground, storing up nourish¬ 
ment for the following season. Therefore I 
consider that the bulbs should never be allowed 
to get dry, even when grown in pots. I main¬ 
tain also that if larger pots are required, the 
bulbs should be repotted very soon after they 
have flowered—at any rate, before the stems 
are ripe enough to be cut off. 
“ A good soil for Lilies consists of fibrous 
peat in a rough state, turfy loam, well rotted 
manure, and a good mixture of sharp sand. If 
grown in pots, these should be well drained. 
The bulbs should be placed rather deep, as the 
tendency is to produce roots on the stem above 
the bulb. The best place for the pots during 
winter is on a bed of coal-ashes, and plunged 
in the same material. When they begin to 
grow in spring, they may be removed into a 
cold pit, or left in the same place, simply re¬ 
moving some of the ashes, to allow of their free 
growth. This treatment will not quite apply 
H 
