IN THE FRONT YARD. 51 



and good, kind old Mother Nature ready to take me by 

 the hand. I went to work and pulled a nursery out of 

 my head and hands which visitors tell me is the best in 

 its line west of Chicago, and I think they are correct. 



Here are thousands of lilacs in 50 different kinds, 

 20 kinds of syringas and as many of spiraeas, a fine 

 lot of viburnums, $5,000 worth of paeonies in 400 

 varieties and perhaps 200,000 choice perennials. When 

 I talk of gold mines I am no parlor knight. I have 

 done most of the work myself at an age when most men 

 retire. I do not mention this in a spirit of egotism, but 

 simply to show what an old man thrown aside can do ; 

 and a young man certainly has greater advantages. 



If we could call our powers into phay we could dress 

 up this dirty old world of ours so the angels would hard- 

 ly know it. 



How it was done. 



I planted a lot of evergreen seed, using the screen sys- 

 tem. Then a lot of perennials, and they grew. I 

 secured a few lilacs of leading sorts and grafted them, 

 a bit of scion on a piece of lilac root just as the nur- 

 seryman makes his apple grafts. I found that most 

 kinds of spiraeas, notably Van Honti and opulifolia, 

 would grow from cuttings like willows, and so with the 

 Philadelphus or syringas. One plant in a short time 

 would make 100, and then 1,000. I planted late in 

 the fall and mulched, or else early in the spring. I 

 secured a lot of choice trees when they were small 

 and then planted them on rich land, and looked on to 

 see them grow. Choice paeonies, some costing $2 to 



