34 GARDENING WITH BRAINS 



offered one year by Burpee. They were so 

 called because of their being, like woman in 

 Virgil's line, "varium et mutabile semper." 

 Not only did no two plants have the same spots 

 and stripes and colors, but on the same plant 

 and vine all the flowers differed from one 

 another a real floral kaleidoscope. Unfor- 

 tunately, this adorable variety was not per- 

 petuated, probably because of the "reversion" 

 difficulties which are so great in this flower. 

 Because of its extreme variableness Luther 

 Burbank specially recommended the nastur- 

 tium to amateurs who wish to become creators 

 of new varieties of flowers. (See p. 186, Vol. X, 

 of his Methods and Discoveries.) 



But with a hundred other choice flowers 

 waiting for a word of commendation, I must not 

 dwell any longer on this favorite, which is 

 unique in being so universal and democratic 

 and yet so aristocratic and refined. 



Have you ever seen one of the mail-order 

 catalogues sent out by some department stores 

 huge volumes of nearly a thousand pages, 

 describing and picturing tens of thousands of 

 all sorts of things which somebody living in the 

 country might want? Catalogues of flower 

 seeds are not so voluminous as these, yet most 

 of them list a bewildering variety of plants, not 

 a few of which might as well be discarded. 

 More and more I agree with E. P. Powell that 

 "most of the annuals take more time and room 



