HINTS ON LILY CULTURE 
Get Them Young 
I F YOU have difficulty establishing 
certain lilies, try planting small bulbs 
not yet ready to bloom. Then the bulb 
will not be required to establish itself 
in its new home and at the same time 
support the crop started the previous 
year while in more favorable surround¬ 
ings. If some buds appear in spite 
of your purchasing small bulbs, pick 
them off. Among others this applies 
to Humbolti, Parryi, monadelphum, 
testaceum and Washingtonianum. 
Humbolti and monadelphhum often 
take care of this themselves by letting 
the stalk die before blooming, and will 
occasionally do this two or three years 
before producing flowers. Otherwise it 
may produce a full head of flowers and 
perish. I have found this trait so 
marked in monadelphum that I pur¬ 
posely ship small bulbs that I think 
will not bloom. The customer may 
scold because small bulbs are sent, but, 
if it seems healthy, will not disturb 
it and will get results the next year; 
while if the top dies back early the 
bulb may be destroyed because disease 
is suspected. 
L. giganteum himilaicum should 
never be transplanted the year before 
it is expected to bloom. This will be 
about six years from seed. The know¬ 
ing nurseryman will fill your orders 
with bulbs four years old to bloom 
two or three years later. The foliage 
of this lily is quite ornamental and 
in due time it produces a flower stalk 
which blooms magnificently and then 
dies. Small bulbs are left at the base 
of the flower stalk which should be 
reset and allowed to develop in their 
permanent location. 
The illustration on the cover is L. 
Willmottiae. A four-year-old bulb pro¬ 
duced a head of sixteen blooms. After 
making the photograph I left the 
flower stalk in a vase of water and the 
last bloom shattered after three weeks. 
Now there are two pods of ripe seed. 
This lily is perfectly hardy. It blooms 
with regale. 
