12 PACIFIC STATES FLORAL CONGRESS. 



when a splendid type appears, it can generally be multiplied to any 

 extent by budding, grafting, or from cuttings, thus avoiding the care 

 and time required in making its character permanent, as with annuals. 

 We say to our own Miss Golden Cup, or Miss Eschscholtzia, as the bon-ton 

 call her, "This beautiful dress of bright golden hue which you have 

 always worn on all occasions is very becoming to you, and exceedingly 

 appropriate to this land of perpetual, golden sunshine; but Miss Queen 

 Golden Cup, if you will sometimes adorn yourself with a dress of white, 

 pale cream, pink, or crimson, we could love you still better than we do." 

 Now Miss Eschscholtzia, though having her family tastes and char- 

 acteristics very thoroughly fixed, still belongs to the great Papaver race, 

 which has often shown itself willing to adapt itself to the discipline of 

 new conditions, even at first distasteful in the extreme. 



So, after taking Miss Golden Cup into our gardens and constantly 

 making these suggestions to her, she hesitatingly consents to don a dress 

 a shade lighter in color, and then lighter still, until now we have her, 

 not only in dresses of gold, but in deepest orange, light and dark shades 

 of cream, purest snowy white, or all these combined, and by constant 

 selection and various educational influences in this line she will adorn 

 herself in a dress of almost any color which may be desirable, and at the 

 same time seems to take the greatest pleasure in improving herself in 

 every grace of form and feature. 



We often suddenly meet Mr. Cactus or Mr. Thistle, and sometimes 

 almost lose our temper on account of their irascible tendencies and 

 punctilious reception, but after regaining our composure we say: "Mr. 

 Thornicuss! ah, pardon me, Mr. Thistle! we can never enjoy your 

 company while you -wear all those tacks, pins, and needles; you would 

 look much better if you would drop those ugly thorns; they cost you 

 too much to produce and stick all over yourself, peaked end out, and no 

 doubt they make you almost as unhappy as they do your neighbors. At 

 heart you are a splendid fellow ; all the slugs, bugs, birds, and animals 

 like you; you are good enough to eat. Yes, I know you are obliged 

 to wear those pins, tacks, needles, fish-hooks, and things all over your 

 clothes from head to foot, just because you have such a good, tender, 

 juicy heart, which all the two, four, and six-footed marauders like." 

 Now, if we invite Mr. Thistle into our gardens, and patiently and 

 earnestly teach and thoroughly convince him that all the marauding 

 animals shall be kept out, it will not be very long before some member 

 of his tribe will see fit to partially discard some of these exasperating 

 pins and needles, and put on a more civilized suit of clothes, and by 

 further careful selections from this one varying individual others are 

 produced which are absolutely spineless, to remain so as long as the 

 marauding animals do not disturb them, often becoming useful mem- 



