-~ 
a 
305 
home and shed their fragrance through every mill and 
workshop in the entire Naugatuck valley. Thewriterwas 
given the seeds, and told to be as careful as possible and 
raise as many as he could. The greenhouse was crowded 
at this particular time, and a new shelf had to be put up 
to accommodate a dozen seed boxes, all containing the 
seed of the fragrant Spanish Pinks. The seed looked 
larger than ordinary Carnation, and was somewhat 
doubtful about it, but the great size of the Pinks and 
their vast superiority to anything in this country, as I 
was informed, soon dispelled any doubts regarding 
the seed. I Knew that “great trees from little acorns 
grew,’’ but in this case thought great Pinks could only 
be produced from large and finely developed seed. So 
all were duly planted and had the best attention it was 
possible to give them. The entire family and their num- 
erous friends all had heard of the seed, and lived in 
pleasant anticipation of an unrivalled display when they 
all bloomed, and for a period of a couple of weeks would 
hear the enquiry from all sides of, ‘‘ James how are the 
Spanish Pinks?’ Of course I always gave a happy 
answer, as the bright visions of fragrant Pinks they ail 
saw in the near future was too great for me to by any 
word or thought dispel. At last the Pinks (?) began to 
come up, and they all came up so nice and evenly that 
they said it was good seed and James was so successful 
with everything he did. The strangest part of it to me 
was that it was that seed I was so doubtful of that first 
came through the soil, and borne upon a nice little round 
stem about as thick as a knitting needle, that came about 
two inches above the soil; ratherastrange way for Pinks 
to start, but then they were such a race of Pinks, and 
their habits so unknown to me, that all due allowance 
was made for any little irregularities the seedlings might 
