How I Succeed With Shirley 
Poppies 
Ee Shirley poppy is undoubtedly more 
admired than any other of the annual 
poppies on account of its wonderful range 
and delicacy of color, and also for the 
absence of black spots on the petals of 
the flower, which are generally considered 
a disfigurement. ‘True Shirley poppies are 
always single, have a white base with yel- 
low or white stamens, anthers and pollen, 
and never have the smallest particle of black 
about them. ‘They like plenty of sunshine 
and will grow in any good garden soil. ‘The 
seeds are hardy and in the vicinity of Phila- 
delphia it is safe to sow them any time after 
the zoth of April, two five-cent packets being 
enough for an 18-foot row. Plant them in 
the vegetable garden where they can be 
staked very easily; if that is not possible, 
give them one edge of the seed bed, for the 
plants must be where they will not have to 
be disturbed all summer. 
Prepare the ground for planting by running 
a hand-plow down the row, or else spade 
up the soil. Then rake it carefully and 
smooth with the back of the rake. Mark 
out a very shallow furrow, and, should the 
ground be dry, sprinkle with a fine spray, 
taking care that the soil be made merely 
moist and not wet. Open the seed packets 
and mix the contents with sand in the pro- 
portion of one scant teaspoonful of sand 
to each packet. This saves a great deal 
of work in thinning out later and gives 
stronger plants, for no matter how carefully 
poppies are thinned, the plants which are 
left from the usual over-crowded row are 
weakened and somewhat spindling. Sow 
this mixture of sand and seed thinly along 
the row. Then take some lumps of dry 
earth and powder it with the fingers over 
the seeds. As the ground is moist this 
forms a very thin crust which prevents the 
seeds from blowing away. All the cultural 
directions for poppies say to press the seed 
in with a plank, but my experience with 
two rows planted at the same time has been 
that the row sown in the former way gives 
more satisfactory results. 
The poppies will probably have to be 
THE WGA RDN MUAG AZ NeE 
thinned when about two inches high, as even 
with the admixture of the sand it is not always 
possible to sow the tiny seeds evenly. Still, a 
much larger number of strong plants will be 
had than if the seed were sown in the old way. 
When the plants are about a foot high 
drive in two strong stakes about two inches 
apart at each end of the row and one stake 
in the centre. Get galvanized wire and 
fasten around the stakes in the form of two 
long narrow loops. Wire is more satisfactory 
than string as the latter is apt to break when 
the plants are at the height of their bloom. 
The same wire can be used year after year. 
As the plants grow taller, pull them through 
these wire loops and in a short time the 
wires will be completely hidden. 
Spray the plants when the first signs of 
buds appear to protect them from their great 
enemy, the black aphis. Take half a cake 
of ivory soap, cut it up into small pieces 
and put it on the stove to melt with two 
hf 
(Poy Ava 
Shirley poppies have most delicate colors in all 
shades of pink to white and scarlet 
quarts of water. Add to this two gallons 
of cold water and spray the plants thor- 
oughly, especially the undersides of the 
leaves. If any of the blossoms develop the 
black spots, pull those plants up imme- 
diately, lest they spoil some of the seedlings. 
In order to have the blossoms last, drop 
them into a pail of water immediately upon 
cutting and place the pail, with the poppies 
in it, in a cool dark closet for two hours. 
In that time the stems will have stiffened and 
any flowers which are going to fall will have 
shed their petals. The rest you can arrange 
as you see fit and they will keep until the 
following morning. Be careful when cutting 
the poppies that you leave some of the finest 
for seed. They will self-sow, and it is abso- 
lutely essential that the soil is not disturbed 
any more than is necessary for an occasional 
weeding. It is these self-sown plants which 
give glorious flowers the following year. 
In the fall the tiny seedlings will be found 
scattered about the poppy row. Do not 
allow these to become choked by the fall crop 
of weeds, and protect them for the winter 
JuLy, 1908. 
with a thin covering of leaves. In the early 
spring when these leaves are raked off the 
little plants will be found green and vigorous. 
All gardening books to the contrary, I 
have found that I can transplant these with 
perfect ease provided that I do it early 
enough; the whole secret of success lies in 
moving them while the tiny roots are still 
dormant. I transplant them about the end 
of March and place them about six inches. 
apart in the permanent bed. They will 
bloom several weeks earlier than those 
raised from seed, and the blossoms will be 
exceedingly large and beautiful. 
For a succession of poppies, I sow a row 
of seed in the vegetable garden again, and. 
these come into bloom just as the plants which 
have lived through the winter are beginning 
to lose their beauty. And from this vege- 
table garden row I obtain little plants for 
the next year. Fragile as poppies seem, 
these tiny plants have never failed to sur- 
vive the hardest winter, even when poorly 
covered 
as salvias or geraniums, and feel well repaid 
with the beauty of the flowers for the trouble 
of transplanting into the garden the poppies. 
which have lived through the winter. 
New Jersey. Kay K. MEcHLING. 
Self-sown Poppies 
aeces years ago we became ac- 
quainted with’ the fact that annual 
poppies will self sow. In the rear of my 
house I had a potato patch with dark, 
rich soil. Along one side of this was a 
border in which were planted various kinds 
of flowers, including five or six poppy plants. 
These flowered and shed their seed. 
Before converting the patch into a.lawn, 
soil from the border, mixed with other good 
earth, was scattered over the lot to a depth 
of about two inches, it first having been 
made as fine as possible with a rake. The 
poppy seed thus became thoroughly and 
evenly distributed over the entire patch. 
Grass seed was sown in the fall and the 
following spring. When the poppies 
bloomed, the entire lawn was covered with 
a sheet of variegated colors. 
Ohio. 
Morris Motz. 
For gorgeous red effects in summer the poppies 
are the best annuals 
I replace them with such things. . 
nate Se 
