The open winter has fairly proven our oft-repeated assertion that lilies are not hardy, and that if we want them to come up to their full measure of strength and beauty, we must protect them against freezing. The past winter was so mild that protection was unnecessary, and the plants now show the effects by a unprecedented growth. L. candi-dum, the finest of all garden lilies, is showing most wonderful strength. We have no doubt but the disease which has been so destructive to this lily the past few years is due to the freezing, which has impoverished the bulbs. In planting one should select a place where there is good drainage, or where the water will not stand around them; this is as injurious as the cold. Most lilies are indigenous to dry soils, but those found in swampy grounds are benefited by giving them a dry situation. This is particularly true of L. superbum, which will grow taller and stronger in dry soils, if mulched both summer and winter, than in its native habitat, the swamp.