* TIMING VEGETABLES 139 



the house. Burbank relates (Vol. VIII, p. 29) 

 how he did it and made profits which enabled 

 him to, fortunately, make his home in Cali- 

 fornia. 1 



Two or three weeks can easily be saved this 

 way. But such gains count for less than the 

 breeding of new early varieties. The Golden 

 Bantam owes its standing as the favorite of all 

 sweet corns to its delicious flavor. But its 

 earliness also has been an asset; and this earli- 

 ness it owes largely to its not wasting time in 

 growing seven-foot stalks. "The ear's the 

 thing!" is its motto, and thus it has started a 

 new era. 



But it is time to return to the flower garden. 

 I am so eager to have all my readers share the 

 pleasures I have derived from my poppy, sweet 

 pea, and pansy beds, in particular, that I will 

 give a whole chapter to each of them. 



1 A writer in Good Housekeeping relates this: "We put some 

 seed in wet sawdust in a shallow dish and placed it over the kitchen 

 range. The seed sprouted vigorously. When the tops were three 

 inches or so in height we set the plants out in the ground. . . . Not 

 a single plant died of the one hundred we handled this way, and we 

 had a fine stand of corn." 



