Our work for November is done, and we return to town to tell our friends of our new venture. We meet with nothing but discouragement. One says, "Oh, you cannot grow lilies satisfactorily!" Another tells us that she has never yet succeeded in growing these troublesome plants. One gardener tells us that lilies are the most difficult of all plants to grow. Another gravely informs us that though some lilies will grow in pots, only one or two kinds will do anything in the ground. But next day we read in a gardening paper that lilies cannot be grown in pots, but some will do well in the open border! What are we to believe? Shall we be successful, or are we doomed to disappointment? We have gone through the year, having grown lilies both in the ground and in pots. Several hundreds were planted in the ground, and one hundred and three (eighty-seven varieties) in pots. Of the latter we have lost four plants. Twenty-two have not flowered but will flower another year; so that we are highly delighted with our success. To see the constant succession of the loveliest blooms filled our heart day after day with delight, and we trust many of our readers will receive for themselves pleasure as innocent and great. (_To be continued._) [A] _Lilium Auratum._ ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. STUDY AND STUDIO. A BOY READER.--1. Candidates for appointments as Engineer Students in Her Majesty's Navy must not be less than fourteen or more than seventeen years of age on the first day of May in the year in which they are examined. Their parents or guardians must pay £40 a year during their training, which may in certain cases be reduced to £25. The pay begins at once at 1s. a week. You can get full particulars by writing to the "Admiralty," London, when papers will be sent you.--2. Barnard Smith's arithmetic is excellent. You can procure it either with answers to the problems or without at a low price. If you want to prepare for any special examination you had better use the prescribed handbooks. S. T. P. Q.--1. We find it a little difficult to select one play exactly fulfilling all the conditions you describe. _Home Plays for Ladies_ (French, 89, Strand), is published in parts containing three or four plays each, price 1s. each part. _Scenes from the Novels of Jane Austen_, arranged by Mrs. Dawson, published at 2s. 6d., by J. M. Dent & Co., might suit you; or _Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act them_, by Mrs. Hugh Bell (Longmans & Co.). We should obtain French's Catalogue in the first instance and send for one or two of the "parts" mentioned.--2. Your writing is very clear. We think it would be better if the loops to your l's, d's, y's, etc., were not so black, and if you avoided the inclination to make your letters pointed.