EVERLASTING FLOWERS 199 



brilliancy of color of the flower; and, of course, 

 here as always, attention is paid to gracefulness 

 and abundance of blooming, and vigor and gen- 

 eral health of the plant. 



The improvements in all these regards have 

 been quite striking, athough I have not consid- 

 ered any individual variety worthy of introduc- 

 tion under a special new name. 



Notwithstanding the amount of work that has 

 been done with them, the ixias will well repay 

 the attention of the amateur who cares to work 

 with them, especially in mild climates. 



Oriental Poppies 



In an earlier chapter an account was given of 

 the blue poppy. An account has also been 

 given of the development of the new colors in 

 the flower usually called the California poppy, 

 more properly known by the somewhat forbid- 

 ding name of EschschoUzia. Very little has been 

 said, however, about the experiments with the 

 well-known annual and perennial poppies, which 

 have produced results of considerable interest. 



The poppies in question are the opium poppy 

 {Papaver somniferum) and oriental (Papaver 

 orient alls) . 



The opium poppy is, as everyone knows, a 

 commercial product of vast importance in the 



