no doubt, however, that in all regions where high night 
temperatures occur these lilies bleach out in the bud 
stage and do not show the pink coloring to any such ex- 
tent as is true here. This puts us in a curious quandary 
for with us these lilies are definitely pink and fully as 
good as the fine color reproduction on our lily poster. 
Visitors to our farms clamor for them and again in 1949 
we sold at list price every bulb we could possibly make 
available. These “pinks” have flowered well and in good 
color along the Eastern Seaboard, in Oregon and Wash- 
ington and in the cooler regions of California. We are 
constantly working with this strain in an attempt to get 
deeper, non-fading coloring and the last group of seed- 
lings to flower, several hundreds of them in our last 
summer’s new stock, was indeed a deeper pink shade. 
How they will stand up in other climates remains to be 
seen. They will not go out to the trade until the fall of 
1950. 
The Mid-Century Hybrids, the result of hybridization 
involving L. tigrinum, L. umbellatum, L. aurantiacum, 
L. dauricum and L. concolor, to name but the outstand- 
ing, true ancestors of this strain of ours, will make their 
first formal bow to the public in 1950. Last year, 
prompted by, a desire to get at least a few of them dis- 
tributed so that they could be shown and discussed, we 
sold several thousands of them and did not have enough 
to fill but a small part of the orders. This year we have 
slightly larger stocks but again they will be very de- 
finitely far short of the demand. 
CARE AND STORAGE OF BULBS 
Although we do all we possibly can to insure that our 
lilies arrive at your warehouse as fresh as they were 
when they were dug, it is even more important that they 
receive proper handling through the bulb selling season. 
In some regions this season extends from October 
through January. Most varieties are easily held in 
ordinary, cool storage without loss of vigor. This does 
not mean, however, that full cases can be displayed in a 
warm store, where the customers are permitted to pick 
out their own bulbs—or to examine several to find the 
ones they wish to purchase. Not only do such exposed 
bulbs become easily dried out, but roots are destroyed 
and scales break off. Even though you may feel that 
your customers prefer to see displayed bulbs in the 
store, we suggest that only a very few be exposed and 
that the balance of the case be stored in a cool (45°-55° 
Fahrenheit) room. The packing material should never 
be allowed to dry out and, if this occurs, the bulbs 
should be repacked in moist peatmoss, sphagnum, saw- 
dust or even clean sand. Bulbs held under these condi- 
tions should remain plump and fresh until they begin to 
OREGON BULB FARMS 
GRESHAM, OREGON 
sprout late in the winter. Surplus bulbs that remain 
late in the winter may be potted in clay pots or gallon 
cans. They will then form roots and some varieties will 
begin to sprout almost immediately. Several dealers 
have used this method of saving surplus bulbs and hold- 
ing them until the spring at which time they can sell 
them to good advantage. 
Handling and care of the lily bulbs in storage does 
not end the responsibility of the dealer. After bulbs 
are purchased across your counter or through the mail 
by your customers, they still must be adequately packed 
to prevent drying out and crushing. Even though the 
bulbs are bought in a period of “gardening enthu- 
siasm’”’, they quite often do not find their way into the 
ground for some time. While this is not the fault of the 
retailer, certainly he is always the man who is blamed 
if poor performance or even failure of the lilies is the 
result. It is, therefore, only logical to protect yourself 
and your customer by packaging the bulbs well at the 
time they are sold. 
In brief, lily bulbs are best considered and handled 
in a manner that you would employ for living plants. 
They are not handled in the same manner as the so- 
called dry bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, 
etc., etc. The dealer must never lose an opportunity to 
impress this upon his customers. We foresee a future 
for the American-grown lily when in volume and popu- 
larity it will be in a position comparable to tulips, 
daffodils, gladioli and dahlias. True species will gradu- 
ally disappear from the lists and more vigorous, reliable 
hybrids will replace them. Even today we are in a po- 
sition, if we so desire, to introduce twenty named va- 
rieties a year for the next five years. This means that, as 
the number of varieties continues to increase and as 
these varieties receive publicity, your customers will 
expect you to handle them. This future can never ma- 
terialize if the customer does not receive bulbs which are 
fresh, plump and alive. They must remain in that con- 
dition by dint of proper handling by the grower and the 
retailer until they are planted. 
SPRING OR FALL DELIVERY 
We are not, as yet, prepared to hold any large quan- 
tities of lilies for spring delivery. Wherever possible, fall 
planting is to be recommended. We harvest our stocks 
early enough to enable us to get them into your hands 
while the fall bulb sales are still at their height. Even 
though this means some loss of size, we feel that from 
the standpoint of performance for your customers, it is 
much preferable to spring delivery. We are willing to 
make every effort on our part to complete all deliveries 
Pace 1l 
