148 GARDENING WITH BRAINS 



nated and given her a splendid crop of Bur- 

 banks ! 



In Maine that sort of thing is not to be 

 expected; a poppy bed like mine means a lot of 

 trouble which it repays a hundredfold. I 

 spade the ground nearly two feet deep, enrich 

 it with old stable manure or leaf mold and a 

 good general fertilizer plus wood ashes. When 

 the ground has been firmed I scatter the seeds, 

 sift on a little soil, firm again, put over it burlap 

 sacks, and water through them till the plants 

 are up. If the weather is dry the babes, after 

 the sacks are removed (don't leave them on a 

 minute too long) must have water once daily 

 sometimes twice. Thin out mercilessly, at first 

 two inches apart, then to five or six or more. 



You may have heard of the man who said his 

 family of five lived in one room, which would be 

 all right if his wife didn't insist on taking in 

 lodgers. Don't crowd your plants like that or 

 you won't have any poppies worth looking at. 

 And two more very important points: In most 

 gardens poppies last only two or three weeks. 

 I make mine last six or seven weeks (though 

 toward the end they get smaller) by rejuvenating 

 the soil once a week, after they begin to blossom, 

 with liquid fertilizer after a rain or a thorough 

 soaking with the hose. By following this 

 method Mrs. Theodore Thomas once counted 

 150 successive blossoms on one of her plants! 

 Finally, don't let a single blossom go to seed. 



