214 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



NOTES ON THE CULTURE OF WILD FLOWERS. 



By Haevey W. Bakee, Kansas Agricultural College, Manhattan. 

 Read before the Academy, at Manhattan, November 27, 1903. 



'T^HE culture of wild flowers has long been a subject of interest to 

 -*- a few people ; but the great majority have paid little or no at- 

 tention to it. There are a few places in the East where the culture 

 of wild flowers has received considerable attention. Among these 

 may be mentioned the New York botanical gardens, Thomas Mehan's 

 nursery, at Philadelphia, the Shaw botanical gardens, at St. Louis, 

 and perhaps a few other smaller places. There are many species 

 growing in the Western states that have never been transplanted. 



A few papers have been written on this subject by Kansas people, 

 and a few plants have been cultivated, but nothing has been done in 

 the state to bring the subject prominently before the people. There 

 are a great many people in Kansas, as well as elsewhere, who like flow- 

 ers. One reason why they do not have more plants is, that the retail 

 price of nursery-grown plants is so high, and those that are bought are 

 often not cared for properly, and consequently do not give satisfaction. 



The cultivation of wild flowers secures for us plants that are 

 adapted to our olimate and that require but little care, yet have the 

 peculiar decorative quality, in flowers or foliage, that distinguish 

 them from the great mass of plants as special objects of beauty. 

 Many of our native plants possess these qualities, but are generally 

 looked upon as mere weeds, not worthy of notice. 



I have long had the desire to cultivate the wild flowers ; and hav- 

 ing an opportunity ofi^ered in the fall of 1902, 1 began collecting for a 

 garden at Grace cathedral, in Topeka. For the success of this garden 

 I am indebted to Dean Kaye, Mr. John R. Mulvane, Dr. C. F. Men- 

 ninger, Mr. A. T. Daniels, and Mr. Edward Wilder, all of Topeka, and 

 Mr. Elam Bartholomew, of Rooks county. 



November was spent in collecting in Shawnee and Jefferson coun- 

 ties. During December collections were made in Chase, Rice, Ed- 

 wards and Clark counties. When the last shipment of plants reached 

 Topeka, the ground was frozen so deep that the plants could not be 

 set out, and they were "heeled in" until spring. Heeling in should 

 be avoided, if possible, since some of the 'plants will rot, while others 

 will be lost or their labels be destroyed. In April I did some collect- 

 ing in Kearny county, and Mr. Bartholomew sent me some plants 

 from Rooks county, and a few plants were collected during the sum- 

 mer in the vicinity of Topeka. In all, 154 species were planted, of 



