other of our large, brilliant flowers. It is fine in its place, but not fine for a display in the 

 garden. A pen-knife is good for the purpose for which it was designed, but it is not exactly 

 fitted for wood-chopping. I advertise double Zinnias, double Stocks, &c.; but you have no right 

 to complain and ihink you are cheated if one-fourth should come single, but should pull up the 



single ones as fast as they show their character, and enjoy 

 the good instead of mourning over the bad. Many varie- 

 ties of double flowers do not give seed, so we have to 

 obtain double seed by fertilizing the single flowers with the 

 pollen of the double, and by other slow and difficult pro- 

 cesses known to the experienced seed-grower. These 

 operations are usually only partially successful, and, as a 

 necessary consequence, some of the seed will give single 

 flowers ; and yet intelligent men, and correspondents of the 

 press, and officers of Agricultural societies, and others who 

 ought to know better, often scold, and write complainingly 

 because seed purchased as double produced single flowers. 

 Again, I advertise separate colors of Phlox Drummondii, 

 woman' h Dianthus, Asters, &c. Occasionally, with some of these, 



This, with some 



Portrait of the fortunate 



band, who makes wife and children happy you will find a little mixture of color. 



and home pleasant. 



things, can not be avoided, even with the greatest care. 



se flower seeds never come up 

 scratched U P- 



There always has been, and always will be, a little uncertainty in growing flowers from seed. 



They are prone to mix and "sport." If it were not for this disposition, we could never obtain 



new varieties. When plants or trees are grown from cuttings, or are produced by budding or 



grafting, all mixture is the result of carelessness, 



accident or fraud. This is not the case with plants 



produced from seed. While many varieties will come 



almost or quite true from seed, with good care, others 



are far less reliable in this respect. All I can prom- 



ise is that I have done all that human care and skill 



can do to produce distinct colors, and when there is 



very much uncertainty in regard to color I advertise 



them only as "mixed colors." For this reason I 



advertise only "mixed colors" of many varieties. 

 Occasionally we hear complaint that seeds do not 



grow perhaps one or two varieties failed out of a 



hundred, and the cultivator is like the shepherd in The woman 



the Scriptures, who left the ninety-nine in the wilder- unless they 



ness and went in search of the lost one. This was well for the shepherd and the sheep, but is 



not a good plan for florists and flower seeds. If you have ten or twenty varieties, and all 



grow nicely but one or two, just enjoy the success, instead of making yourself miserable over 



failures. The best and most skillful gardeners will 

 fail occasionally, and neither the seed nor the gar- 

 dener be very much to blame. Every professional 

 gardener knows this. There is a wonder a mys- 

 tery in vegetable as well as in animal life. Our 

 friends fail, droop and die our little ones pass away 

 iust as they are taking deep root in our hearts. We 

 feel the deathly pangs, but cannot save. But the 

 variety that failed was the one of all you most 

 desired. Of course, what we cannot have we always 

 want the most. The fish that escapes from the hook 

 is always the largest. 

 The woman whose flower seeds all come up. But, if you fail to any great extent, make up your 



mind there is trouble somewhere some mismanagement and resolve to find it out, if possi- 



ble. Don't jump at the conclusion that the seed was bad, because it is not true, and thousands 



will praise the seed you condemn as bad. By concluding that you are all right and the seed all 



' 11 



