1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



201 



ute my spirits beg-an to recover, for I thouji;^ht 

 of my spare saucers of white sand. I put 

 it clear down so just the leaves and the buds 

 were out of the sand ; kept it wet and warm, 

 and — would you believe it? — that bud with- 

 out roots opened up before those on the g-row- 

 ing- plants. It was not sickly nor stunted. 

 It seemed to say, "Oh! you need not feel 

 particularly bad about the accident. I do 

 not really rieed roots if you give me every 

 thing' else I want." 



Well, the old plant has put out two or 

 three branches of buds in place of the one 

 I took off, and the new one is putting' out 

 roots, so I am g'oing to have an extra plant, 

 and possibly the old one will give an extra 

 amount of bloom just a little later than the 

 rest. 



Now, what makes me happy is that I am 

 making- discoveries every day. They ma3' 

 not be new to florists, nor to somebody else 

 in this big wide world, but they are new to 

 me; and I am getting in touch with these 

 new and strange forms of vegetation so I 

 can hold on to them — not as our brother did 

 with the radish that "eluded" his grasp 

 just when he thought he heid it for sure. 

 And talking about radishes reminds me 

 that, years ago, I worked several seasons 

 for a white lettuce like the white-plume cel- 

 er3^ I got so far as to put lettuce on the 

 market that was part white and part green; 

 but my patrons got a notion that the white 

 spots 'were the result of putting some kind 

 of poison on the leaves to keep off insects. 

 Well, I finally got a few stalks that were 

 all white, but they lacked vigor, just as the 

 Madame Saleroi geranium, the one border- 

 ed with white, lacks vigor compared with 

 the green-leaved geraniums. Now, very 

 likely my feeble white lettuce might have 

 been crossed so as to give it vigor, but I be- 

 came discouraged and let it drop. Vaughan, 

 of Chicago, advertises in his catalog a new 

 variety of Impafiens ( /. Platypetala ) . I have 

 just to-day received three of the plants. 

 The flower is larger than the old Siiltani, 

 and the foliage is quite diff'erent, although 

 it resembles our old friend. I should judge 

 it is a ranker and more luxuriant plant, 

 because they stood right up strong in the 

 full noonday sun. Of course, the new 

 plants cost quite a little; but when you con- 

 sider that one who knows how can multiply 

 the plants with great rapidity, you will not 

 mind paying 30 or 40 cents for one to start 

 with. By the wa}', this luipatiens Sultani 

 is perhaps more commonl3' grown as a 

 house-plant than any thing else unless it is 

 the geranium. A lady friend of ours had 

 a beautiful plant two or three feet high, 

 just covered with bloom. I asked her the 

 name of it. She said she had never heard 

 any name given, but she called the plant 

 worth a great deal of mone3^ When I came 

 to examine it closel3' I saw it was just a 

 beautiful specimen of my old friend. 



I have seen some very fine ones in some 

 ver3' humble homes. Some people call them 

 "bilsams." The only trouble is they will 

 not bear anx' thing like a freezing tempera- 



ture, and are not nearly as hardy as the 

 geranium, and they do not usually grow 

 very much unless they have a pretty warm 

 place near the stove. If it is not ver3' light 

 it does not seem to matter very much. 



Now, we need not be discouraged by 

 thinking it is only the florist who can have 

 these beautiful plants. One day I made a 

 wheelride of several miles to see a pelar- 

 gonum (Lady Washington geranium). It 

 was, perhaps, three feet high, and ma3' be 

 two broad. It filled the entire window 

 fronting the street. The woman was not a 

 florist, and did not know much about plants; 

 but she had learned how to give this plant 

 just what it wanted. When I asked if it 

 was for sale she said she had refused five 

 dollars for it several times; and she kept it 

 season after season the greater part of the 

 year covered with bloom. I never saw an-v 

 thing to compare with it in any floral es- 

 tablishment. Cases of this kind come up 

 frequently. Some of the finest house-plants 

 the world has produced are in the posses- 

 sion of ver3' humble people in very humble 

 homes. Any ordinary home can be manag- 

 ed to furnish the conditions necessary to 

 grow beautiful plants. You can commence 

 this work any time anywhere, and almost 

 without capital. If you succeed, by the aid 

 of a sash or two, 3'ou can enlarge 3'our win- 

 dow to a hot-bed, and, later in the season, 

 to a cold-frame. When you get half a doz- 

 en sashes, with little expense you can have 

 a little greenhouse where you can get in- 

 side to work and raise stuff' to sell. Many 

 large floral establishments have been start- 

 ed in this manner, on a very small scale. 

 I bought my first azalia in Utica, N. Y. I 

 visited several greenhouses, and finally 

 found a place where the plants were not 

 only greatly superior but very much cheap- 

 er. I asked the proprietor how it happened. 

 He said something like this: 



"Why, I am not really a florist. I com- 

 menced growing flowers for the fun of it, 

 without any instructions whatever except 

 what I got from books and periodicals. 

 The other florists are all down on me be- 

 cause I do not keep up to their prices; but 

 I should like nothing better than having a 

 market for all I can produce, at the prices 

 I am getting. ' ' 



He was in love with his work, just as I 

 am in love with mine this winter. By the 

 way, when you are learning how, the very 

 easiest plant to work with that I know of 

 is the nasturtium. All 3^ou need is some 

 nice seeds to start with. Better have one of 

 the dwarf Tom Thumb varieties; and I 

 would suggest Empress of India. Mine 

 came from Burpee. You will not need very 

 rich soil for nasturtiums (or "stertians")', 

 especially for indoors and greenhouse. The^'^ 

 will grow too rank. Mine began to grow 

 too tall, so I cut off the tops of the whole of 

 them. It seemed too bad to throw the tops 

 away, and so I stuck them in a saucer of 

 sand. In three or four da3's the3' were 

 standing up so brisk and thrifty-looking 

 that I pulled one out, and each cutting had 



