62 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 
faintly tinted whitish seed, the pink is a trifle deeper, the 
red and purple are a deep brownish tone. The white fox- 
glove seeds are white, the purplish red foxglove seeds are al- 
most black. The poppy and morning-glory show the same 
difference. Many other plants follow this distinction, which 
it is well to remember if you buy a package of mixed seed; for 
you may pick out the seeds by their different tones, and plant 
them separately. I find the same differences exist in the stems 
of plants. White varieties are of a pale green—in asters, cos- 
mos, columbine and stock; the pink varieties have a slightly 
reddish tone, often a mere streaking of color on the stem, while 
the red or deep blue or purple varieties have a deep red, ma- 
hogany or almost brown stem. If your eye is quick to dis- 
cern differences, you can discover these peculiarities while a 
plant is still a young seedling. 
There are many seeds that are offered only in mixed colors, 
yet I have secured pure color from them by planting them in 
some corner, and then separating them in the following man- 
ner. Among the flowers that bloom first I choose one or more 
heads which show great perfection and note the exact color, 
tying the stem before the petals fall in order not to lose track 
of it. As the later seed-vessels form they are cut off so that 
the vitality of the plant may be given to further bloom, and to 
that single seed vessel. To maintain pure color, I had to de- 
vise some way by which I could distinguish the exact tone rep- 
resented by the marked seed-vessels, as well as of these mixed 
seeds. First I tied the stems with colored strings, but they 
faded; then I fell upon the simple device of using black and 
white darning cotton as the least noticeable way to mark a 
stem. I cut off short lengths, not over three inches long, and 
tie them about the stem close to the seed-vessel according to 
the following code. A double tying of white cotton denotes a 
pure white variety, and so on. 
