A Box of Seeds in California. 



By A LETTUCE SEED. 



LAY with a number of other seeds 

 of our relations, the Lettuce fam- 

 ily, in a box in the window of a 

 grocery. 



It was a warm February day in 

 California, and the sun shining 

 through the window and upon my 

 package, stirred within me the im- 

 pulse to be in the ground and grow- 

 ing. A little girl came into the grocery, and I 

 heard her telling the grocer: 



"Mamma wants some vegetable seeds; some- 

 thing that will start growing right away." 



My, how my tiny seif palpitated at that! "I 

 hope she will buy me," I thought, but then prob- 

 ably every other seed in the box thought the same 

 thir.g. And there were thousands of seeds in that 

 box. 



All the seeds were gathered together in pack- 

 ages and each package was placed in a neat little 

 niche nicely designated by a red and black label. 



"Well, what does your mamma want?" said the 

 grocer. 



"I guess I don't remember," said the little girl, 

 "but it's in my pocket," and she tugged away at 

 her apron. 



Presently she brought out a slip of paper. 



"No matter; here your mamma comes," said 

 the grocer. 



"Now," said the little girl's mother, "we have 

 a little plot of about fifty feet square, and I want 

 to have some vegetables planted that will grow 

 right away." 



"That's very nice," said the grocer, who liked 

 to chat, and who knew his neighbors well. "I 

 just planted some California seeds and they are 

 beginning to grow finely. Always buy California 

 seeds, ma'am, for they come from vegetables that 

 are raised here and so these seeds become vege- 

 tables that are strong and are used to the 

 climate." 



"My, is that so," said the little girl's mother. 



"Yes, indeed, ma'am," replied the grocer. "I 

 might say that California raises more vegetable 

 and flower seeds of high quality than any other 

 State." 



"Well, I'll take California seeds, and what do 

 you think I'd better take?" 



Now, all this time I was just trembling with 

 eagerness in my package in the third tier, and if 

 only I could have spoken I would have cried out: 



"Take lettuce seeds. We can be planted any 

 month in the year and we grow very nicely if you 

 irrigate us with a little water." 



