50 THE GOLD MINE 



all summer. I lost 50,000 one year by taking off the 

 screen. It is different with gaillardias and columbines. 

 When they are well rooted take off the screens. They 

 do better in the full sunlight. 



How $10 mn he made to groiu to $1,000. If I were 

 on a farm I know that in a few years I could accom- 

 plish it, and it is largely by the processes I am de- 

 scribing that I have succeeded in producing one of the 

 largest ornamental nurseries in the west in a short space 

 of time. If you only knew it, there is a whole bank of 

 money in your brain and hands: Six years ago I 

 found myself disabled, so I had to leave in a measure a 

 professional life which I had carried on for more than 

 forty years. My health was poor and nerves worn 

 threadbare by a strenuous life. I found myself without 

 money and the wolf of want was looking in at the door. 

 Too many under the circumstances would have been 

 appalled. But all along I had taken delight in horti- 

 culture and for years kept a state experiment station. 

 An important position in the east placed me in contact 

 with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, of which 

 I became a member, where I formed the acquaintance 

 with some of the foremost men in the nursery business. 

 Of course I got all I could out of them. I had a splen- 

 did opportunity to see the parks and private grounds 

 of Kew England, and get acquainted with the superin- 

 tendents and gardeners. I gathered and stored all the 

 items I came across, and when I must give up my life 

 work I had shattered health, no money to speak of — 

 just head and hands, ^^heart within and God overhead," 



