236 The American Flower Garden 



Needless to say, perhaps, seeds should be bought only from 

 a reliable firm; but, even so, one must be prepared for some dis- 

 appointments. Never buy them of a second-rate house merely 

 because they seem cheap. Quality, size and cleanliness count 

 for more than a penny or two per packet. A small quantity of 

 inferior seeds, not half of which will germinate, ought to be sold 

 for considerably less than a larger number of carefully grown ones 

 from which a high percentage of vigorous stock may be raised. 

 Beguiled by the descriptions and glowing pictures of cleverly 

 advertised novelties, entranced by the possibility of growing 

 quantities of "plants of the easiest culture," you indulge in many 

 little packages of seed to sow in the garden of your dreams. The 

 more expensive sorts, it is observed, are said to bear the largest, 

 handsomest flowers, so you do not hesitate to try them. Although 

 the "extra large white trumpets of a new petunia of surpassing 

 beauty, exquisitely pencilled and elegantly fringed," for a few 

 seeds of which you give a high price, shows on blooming that it 

 has reverted to the vulgar type in spite of the hand labour of the 

 hybridiser; although the "Persian pink" zinnias may prove to 

 be an even grosser magenta; although half your Shirley poppy 

 seed may be far too old to sprout, and the fat packets of nasturtiums 

 prove to be mostly husks scorned by maggots, still, the proportion 

 of disappointments is not so great as to totally discourage. Some 

 of your dreams materialise; some results even exceed your bright- 

 est visions. Gardening is only a refined form of gambling, after 

 all. Sometimes the odds are fearfully against us; sometimes 

 we win; but once the passion seizes us we are the victims of its 

 fascination for life. 



Dream-gardening and plan-drawing are occupations for the 

 winter, but as the days begin to lengthen we must come to earth 



