'^ A DREAM OF NEW POPPIES 147 



pollen; flesh-colored petal, sometimes edged with 

 deeper shade, with four brownish-gray spots, 

 setting off buttercup-yellow pollen." There are 

 many others. 



HOW TO RAISE FAIRY POPPIES 



The Japanese have their flower gardens back 

 of the house, where no one but themselves can 

 enjoy them. I prefer the American way. My 

 poppy bed is on the lawn in front of the house, 

 where everyone from the road can see it. 

 It makes me happy to see automobiles slow up 

 and hear cries of: **0h, look! See those flow- 

 ers!" I may add that this bed includes, besides 

 twenty feet of Shirleys, rows of other poppies 

 of the Big Seven; also some double poppies. 

 The Shrimp-pink Mikado and Fordhook Fairies 

 are as fine as peonies or chrysanthemums, but 

 double Shirleys or Darwins are not to be toler- 

 ated any more than double pansies or sweet 

 peas. 



My success with these delicate poppies in 

 the rude mountain climate of this part of Maine 

 shows that they are suitable for all regions. Of 

 course, we cannot expect them to get along with 

 as little care as on the Pacific coast. In Oregon, 

 one summer, I sowed a number of Shirleys in my 

 oldest sister's garden. When they had gone by 

 I gathered the capsules and scattered the seeds 

 over her lawn. To my surprise, she wrote me 

 the following spring that these seeds had germi- 



