ANNUALS 



dark purple. By experiment I found that from 

 the seeds of a single flower I could produce 

 double flowers at will, by simply giving the plants 

 plenty of room in a favorable situation, and work- 

 ing in a little garden phosphate about them when 

 they were six or eight inches high. 



You will also find in the catalogues Poppy 

 seeds offered under such names as " Maid of the 

 Mist," "Fayal," "Oriental Beauties," and " Gi- 

 ganteum," with such trifling descriptions that no 

 human being could tell to what species any of 

 them belonged. One dealer, after ofl^ering you 

 the seeds of Paeony and Carnation-flowered Pop- 

 pies, adds thereto " Double Somniferum." It 

 would be interesting to know what he meant by 

 such a classification, for it presents a puzzle quite 

 as perplexing as that submitted to a friend of 

 mine on one occasion. His coachman came to 

 him to ask his advice about a telegram just re- 

 ceived. The message read, " Mother has fits. 

 Answer." Instead of dividing the distinct species 

 one from another in their catalogues, the dealers 

 generally mix them all up together, and then 

 absurdly sort them out again into single and 

 double, so that it is quite impossible to tell 

 whether a Poppy of a given color will prove to 

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