During growth lilies require a very large amount of water. In a dry season it is a good plan to water them every day. An insufficient supply of water is one of the commonest causes of failure with lilies. With lilies in pots only an occasional watering will be required before the shoots appear. As soon as this stage is reached they should be watered daily until the flower-buds appear. If only we could guard against slugs! These are the greatest of all pests to the lily grower, and though there are many infallible preventives against slugs used and sold, not one of them answers its purpose. Soot is usually regarded as the best agent to use to prevent slugs from eating the tender spring growth of lilies. The soot is thickly dusted round the plant, and as slugs very much dislike any powder which adheres to their slimy bodies, they will not venture across the sooty track. No, they will not cross the soot--at least not until the soot gets damp, as it does after the first heavy dew or shower of rain. As soon as the soot gets wet it is no longer a deterrent to slugs. Lime is also recommended to be used in the same way as soot; but it, too, fails to serve its purpose when it has once become damp. Then have we no way to keep down the ravages of slugs? Yes!--we have one way, a very excellent way, but a most tedious and unpleasant one to carry out. The only effective way of thwarting the ravages of the slugs is to pick off by hand the culprits, while they are gorging themselves in the evening. [Illustration: The stem and bulb of _L. Auratum_ showing the relative quantity of roots given off above and below the bulb. (_From a photograph. Reduced to a quarter of original diameter._)] Go out as soon as the sun is set with a lanthorn and a gallipot filled with strong brine, and visit each lily-shoot in succession. You will see the slugs congregated on your pets by hundreds, from the little tiny fellow of one-quarter of an inch long, who is eating your best lilies in order that he may grow into a larger and more capacious enemy, to the slimy monster of six inches long, who is attempting to fill his vast maw with lilies of great value. All are there, all devouring your best specimens, as though you were their most hated enemy--as indeed you will be if you want your garden to look gay. These slugs are not, as one would suppose, dirty feeders, but they are gourmands of the deepest dye. They are not content with the outside or decaying leaves--not they--they want the very tenderest tops of the young shoots! When the lilies are about a foot high, they will not eat the leaves at the base, they must needs crawl up the stem to feed on the tender growing top of the plants. But now you can have your revenge. Pick off with your fingers[2] every slug you can see, be he little or great, and put him into the brine. The brine kills and dissolves them in a very short time.