Many eminent florists, both in England and on the Continent, dissatisfied with such results, set to work to solve the difficulty of growing both foliage and flowers of the lily of the valley all the year round. The task was a troublesome one, though not quite so hopeless as it would appear to the uninitiated, for these flower specialists knew that crowns which were taken out of the ground at the end of the winter and forced would frequently develop both foliage and flowers. [Illustration: 7.--TWENTY-ONE DAYS' GROWTH. THE FOLIAGE GAINING ITS GREEN TINT AND THE FLOWER-BUDS SHOWING.] At last, after numerous experiments had been tried, a method was evolved whereby it became possible to supply the markets of the world with both large and handsome flowers and foliage of the lily of the valley all the year round, from New Year's Day to New Year's Eve. The crowns are now collected before the new buds have made much growth, and subjected to a process of refrigeration which takes the place of the winter sleep, and by which means they can be stored for a long time without injury. Four or five weeks before the flowers and foliage are required the crowns are planted in the hothouse, and kept at a temperature of about 75 deg. Fahr. during the whole period of their growth. [Illustration: 8.--TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS' GROWTH. THE FOLIAGE BEGINNING TO UNFURL.] [Illustration: 9.--THIRTY-ONE DAYS' GROWTH. THE FLOWER-STEM RAPIDLY GROWING.] When taken from the refrigerator the lily crown, technically known on the market as a "retarded crown," has a somewhat dry, brownish appearance. A week spent in the rich soil and hot, humid atmosphere of the forcing-house causes the bud to swell and begin to grow. In ten days it is seen to have really made some appreciable growth. At the end of fourteen days the creamy-white, tightly-folded foliage leaves and the tip of the flower-stem are seen to have developed, the leaves broadening out somewhat about the eighteenth day. In twenty-one days the still folded leaves have gained a delicate, pale greenish hue, and the flower-buds have begun to make themselves plainly visible upon the flower-stem. Twenty-eight days finds the leaves a slightly deeper green in tint and beginning to unfurl; while the flower-stem is now more slowly developing, showing a close approximation to the order of growth under natural conditions. In thirty days the flower-stem begins to put on a spurt and catch up with the leaves in growth. Thirty-six days from the planting of the retarded crown the fully-formed flower-buds begin to open, and a day or two later the plant is in full bloom and the foliage and flowers are ready for the market. [Illustration: 10.--THIRTY-SIX DAYS' GROWTH. THE FOLIAGE FULLY DEVELOPED AND THE FLOWER-BUDS BEGINNING TO OPEN.] [Illustration: 11.--THIRTY-EIGHT DAYS GROWTH. THE FLOWERS AND FOLIAGE READY FOR MARKET.] _Curiosities._ Copyright, 1904, by George Newnes, Limited.