RAISING FLOWERS FROM SEED 



a few are chosen because of their luxuriant 

 growth or for the color they give us. 



The first of these is the Amaranthus Abys- 

 sinicus. This plant has a very Oriental-Ara- 

 bian-Nights sounding name, and rivals Jack's 

 bean-stalk in growth, for it reaches a height 

 of seven or eight feet in a short time. The 

 stalk and branches are dark crimson in color, 

 and every branch terminates with a cluster of 

 dark crimson tassels a foot in length; it has a 

 very large light green leaf. 



One of these plants appeared one summer 

 in my seed-beds. I did not know what it 

 was. It grew and grew, and finally one of the 

 gardeners, a man along in life, who was 

 trained by my grandmother's gardener, pro- 

 nounced it the "lady's riding whip," a name 

 which had probably been given it from the 

 long tassel effect, and at last I was able to 

 trace it in the catalogues. It is very effective 

 when grown either in the back of an herba- 

 ceous border or in a shrubbery. 



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