HORTICULTURAL SPECIALIST 1 

LILIUMS 
These are one of our leading specialties and a 
large proportion of the varieties offered are home 
grown. Candidum (Madonna Lily) and Testaceum 
(Nankeen Lily) are ready in August many varieties 
early in September and nearly all varieties during 
October, a few are not ready until early November. 
Fall is a vastly better season for planting Lilies 
than spring, a rather limited number of varieties 
can be spring planted and these will bloom later 
than such as were fall planted but under no conditions 
will their quality at all equal those planted in the 
fall. We never handle bulbs carried over winter in 
cold storage they are of little value for outdoor 
plantings and their use will invariably cause dis- 
appointments. All liliums require well drained 
ground. Water logging in winter is a common source 
of failure. Avoid using fresh animal manure in pre- 
paring ground for them and never use chemical 
fertilizers. Leaf mold, peat moss and thoroughly 
rotted animal manures are all safe. In very heavy 
soils use sharp sand freely also rotted leaves or peat. 
I always use sand below and over bulbs. Bone meal 
is a safe and excellent food for all lilies, in fact for 
all kinds of hardy bulbs. Certain varieties including 
our native lilies will do well in shade and some shade 
afforded to such varieties as Henryi, Hansoni, Japon- 
ate and rubellum will prevent flowers fading out 
adly. 
Lilium candidum requires a well sweetened soil, 
also testaceum and some other European varieties, 
the great bulk prefer one which is alkaline or acid. 
Do not cut Lilies down while stalks are green and 
unless you are desirous of saving some seeds remove 
all pods soon after flowering. A mulch of old manure 
or peat moss during the growing season is good 
for all lilies. When:replanting keep bulbs out of the 
ground as short a time as possible packing them in 
soil or peat moss. Today supplies of certain lilies 
are very limited, especially is this true of auratum- 
speciosum, japonicum, sulphureum and some others 
formerly imported from eastern Asia, not to men- 
tion varieties of Longiflorum. In a few years America 
and Canada will be able to produce good bulbs of 
nearly all varieties and make us independent of these 
importations. 
A goodly number of Lilies can be readily raised 
from seeds and we offer a fine selection of home 
saved seeds. A few can be flowered within a year, 
others take 2-3 years, some varieties longer. Other 
methods of increase include side bulbs, bulblets, 
bulbils and scales but for quantity production seeds 
are the best. 
We have received numerous gold and silver medals 
and prizes for our exhibits of Lilies before the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society during the past 
15 years. 
