
As already mentioned in the general introduction to 
this price list, the 1948 growing season was the wettest 
on record in some fifty-five years. While moisture, a 
porous soil and good drainage are essential to success- 
ful lily culture, the continued rains during the summer 
and early fall were a very definite hindrance to the 
normal and orderly routine of the harvest season. In 
fact, the excess moisture of the soil and bulbs brought 
with it some very unusual problems in curing and stor- 
ing the stock, problems which were a decided handicap 
in packaging the bulbs. That, notwithstanding these 
handicaps, we were able to ship the great bulk of our _ 
stocks on time and in good quality, was a tribute to the 
skill of our workers who have come to look upon the - 
lilies as one of the most important of our crops. 
In spite of our increased production and in spite of 
what was in effect a good crop, again this year as in the 
__past, we found that the demand for lilies is increasing 
much faster than-our stocks, The quantities of good 
sized bulbs available are still limited and, we believe, 
will always be limited. We are building up larger 
stocks and every year are holding back quite’a few 
large bulbs for propagating purposes. In spite of all 
our efforts to increase production, we, nevertheless, fell 
short in many types and varieties by at least fifty 
percent. . 
This shortage of stock is due to various factors. One 
seems to be the fact that wherever these fine lilies of 
ours are grown, free from disease and vigorous as they 
are, they attract attention and further orders. This 
again leads to publicity and, unfortunately for us, the 
publicity this year broke long after we had sold the 
bulk-of our crop. Late orders are still coming in after 
every salable bulb has been shipped out.: We realize 
that it is as unpleasant for our customers to tell their 
clients that they cannot obtain the desired bulbs as it 
it is for us to have to refuse the requests of many of 
our friends. 
For 1949 the picture is no better. Loath as we are 
lo admit it, the quantity production of lilies is still in 
its infancy and the problems that confront us are 
legion. There is no question of crop failure nor can we 
even say that any stock failed to produce good bulbs. 
The truth is that in our program of production of clean, 
vigorous stock from seed, using virgin land and the 
latest and best methods of cultivation, yields and the 
ratio of sizes in any total crop produced are still matters 
of conjecture rather than of fact. In other words, all 
‘we can do is guess the quantity that might be harvested 
and hope that the sizes will be good. 
The unusual vigor of these new stocks was not cor- 
rectly interpreted by us. Many of the Umbellatum type, 
for instance, flowered well from bulbs that did not 
Pace 16- ae 
- French bulbs of the old or regular-strain. The same . 
“of the Cascade Strain of L. candidum and the Olympic 
marketable crops, such as vegetables and flowers, and 
* Da 
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sob owes a 
measure more than from two to three inches in circum- 
ference at the time of digging. In the trumpet lily | 
classes we found that some of our finest plants, tagged — 
while in flower,‘produced only four to five inch bulbs, 
that is, much too small to ship out. All of this material — 
had to be planted back again for one or two years, in 
order to grow to larger size. Whether some of these _ 
newer varieties and strains will ever grow as large a8) Seas 
the older and already well-known lilies is, again, a 
matter of conjecture, ee carer 
Our knowledge of the rate of growth of the hybrid 
lily is still limited. We believe that we must also include 
the seedling strains of lilies in this statement. We found, ; 
for instance, that our six to seven inch Madonna lilies ~~ 
of the Cascade strain produced stalks and a number of — 
flowers that exceeded anything shown by eight-inch _ 


applies to various other lilies that we have grown. 
‘To bring these remarks down to a practical level, 
they mean that the quantity of lily bulbs which we will 
have available for our customers during 1949 will by — - 
no means be larger than what was delivered in 1948. 
A few novelties can be added to the list. and in the case 
Hybrid strain of L. centifolium wé should have ade- 
quate stocks for the demand. In the case of the Bell- 
ingham Hybrid lilies and of Sunset and Shuksan lilies, 
we do not know at this time whether the excessively wet 
summer and fall, which caused some loss in the plant- 
ing stock, will make its effect felt during the next grow- _- 
ing season. To date, the stock looks fine and samples 
which we have dug are making a good and normal 
~ growth. 
While on the one hand there will not be more lilies - 
available, there is, on the other hand, a very marked 
trend toward a greater interest in lilies. This is already 
evidenced by the amount of editorial space given 62 Se 
lilies in the garden press. It is also noticeable in the 2G 
number of letters we receive from amateur gardeners Es) 
and lily breeders all over the world. As in the caseé of 
hybrid daffodils, this interest on the part of the more ~ 
advanced amateurs is always a positive sign of a com- 
ing “boom”. The interest in garden lilies has waxed 
and waned in cycles. Probably the lowest ebb in lily — 
interest was reached during the earlier years of the ue 
war, when neither Japanese nor European bulbs were . 
available, when American production of lilies had given — oy Soe 
way to the higher profits obtainable in more readily = - 
when the public was concerned with matters of greater 
importance than lilies. & , 
From this low point even a slight interest from the rs 
side of the public constituted a major banks: aitetS 



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