lilies in large quantities from abroad. But we may well ask, Have
foreign gardeners found out some great secret in the cultivation of
this plant? Or is their climate more suitable for it? Or their soil
adapted to growing it and getting it into splendid condition for
forcing? It is impossible that the conditions for growing large and
fine heads of this lily can be in any way better in Berlin or
elsewhere than they are in our own land, unless greater heat in summer
than we experience in England is necessary for ripening the growths in
autumn.

There is another question certainly as to varieties; one variety may
be superior to another, but surely if so it is only on the principle
of the survival of the fittest, that is to say, by carefully working
on the finest forms only and propagating from them, a strong and
vigorous stock may be the result, and this stock may be dignified with
a special name. For my own part what I want is to have a great
abundance of lily of the valley from February till the out-door season
is over. To do this with imported clumps would, of course, be most
costly, and far beyond what any person ought to spend on mere flowers.
Though it must be remembered that it is an immense advantage to the
parish priest to be able to take bright and sweet flowers to the
bedside of the sick, or to gratify the weary spirit of a confirmed
invalid, confined through all the lovely spring time to the narrow
limits of a dull room, with the fragrant flowers of the lily of the
valley. I determined, therefore, that I would have an abundance of
early lilies, and that they should not be costly, but simply produced
at about the same expense as any other flowers, and I have been very
successful in accomplishing this by very simple means. First of all,
it is necessary to have the means of forcing, that is to say the
required heat, which in my case is obtained from an early vinery. I