58 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



September, 1909 



I mean that more sprays are used of only 

 two or three blooms each than if they run 

 to four blooms, and I am particular that 

 all stems are cut full length and that all 

 crooked and twisted ones are thrown out. 

 The bunches are fastened up lightly at 

 the ends of the stalks by supping over 

 them a small rubber band. This allows 

 the tops to spread out loosely and gives a 

 graceful effect. 



At the height of the season I am now 

 picking three to four hundred bunches of 

 sweet peas a day, and this picking is no small 

 undertaking. It is done by girls who work 

 as they like, as many hours a day as they 

 fancy, at one uniform price of ten cents an 

 hour. And there is plenty of work for all 

 who come. 



I do no shipping trade — that is, consign- 

 ing on sale. I do fill orders and now have 

 quite a large clientele to which delivery is 

 made directly by hand. My trade, you see, is 



Sweet Williams, because of their fragrance, are in 

 great demand 



essentially local. Of recent years the summer 

 resident colony has grown enormously and 

 that is an easy market for such as I care to 

 produce. A little competition has come 

 in from time to time, particularly by one of 

 the seedhouses which has grounds in the 

 immediate vicinity, and so to protect my 

 own interests small stands were opened in 

 other parts of the town, each one in connec- 

 tion with a small piece of ground where 

 sweet peas were planted on exactly the 

 same lines as on the original place. 



I feel that the association of the growing 

 vines and the stand for cut flowers is no 

 mean factor in stimulating trade. People 

 see the flowers growing and they buy some 

 of the ones that are on the stand, because 

 they have the guarantee that they are quite 

 fresh. One of these subsidiary stands alone 

 sold on the 4th of July last, in the morning 

 alone. 130 bunches of sweet peas. A uni- 

 form charge is made all through of ten cents 

 a bunch for sweet peas and twenty-five cents 

 a bunch for asters, no matter what the time 

 of the year, and the bunch is always a uni- 

 form size. 



This entire business, although it occupies 

 the time of both myself and Mr. Frost now 



Among the old-fashioned flowers the foxglove is a 

 favorite, although it does not last 



practically all the season, from early morn 

 until late at night, is after all merely an 

 avocation. The gross returns last year were 

 over $1,300. of which nearly $500 could be 

 written down as profit. But, of course, it 

 should be understood that I am not figuring 

 on the rental of the land. If that were 

 charged in there would probably be no real 

 profit at all. The taxes alone on our home 

 garden last year were $120. The two little 

 plots of ground elsewhere are rented at nomi- 

 nal figures. The two together would hardly 

 be more than half an acre, and they cost about 

 $40 a year. But, as I said before, they help 

 the sales on the stands and give a reason for 

 their existence. 



I have no greenhouses whatever, every- 

 thing is grown outdoors. The nearest 

 approach to heat is a few feet of roughly 

 made coldframes under the shelter of a 

 retaining wall, which are used for starting 

 seeds of asters and a few other things to be 

 transplanted into the garden later. 



All years are not equally successful, owing 

 to the incidental attacks of insects, such 

 as plant lice and worms on the sweet peas, 



the mysterious disease of asters, and lastly 

 occasional spells of inclement weather. 

 When the seasons are good there are always 

 some surplus flowers, and these find their way 

 to the local hospitals or are distributed 

 among friends and the poorer people in the 

 district. Everything is picked, of course, 

 in order to prevent the formation of seed, but 

 nothing is destroyed. I derive my pleasure 

 directly from the growing of the flowers, 

 and the little income from them helps to 

 pay the expenses of my indulgence. 



Although my greatest interest is now in 

 sweet peas, I still raise large quantities of 

 " the old-fashioned flowers," such as sweet 

 William, larkspur, gaillardia and phlox. 

 The Oriental poppy is attractive because 

 of its immensity of size and wonderful 

 glowing brilliancy. There are also fox- 

 gloves, all kinds of pinks, and I have 

 added somewhat recently japan iris, not 

 so much because it is a flower that can 

 be sold, but because there is nothing more 



Sweet peas are planted very thickly in drills three 

 inches deep 



The Shasta daisy is better than the common one, 

 because larger and more floriferous 



glorious in the garden for my own delight. 



I must say a good word for the Shasta 

 daisy, which gives continuous sheets of 

 bloom all through the season; and as the 

 individual flower is three or four times the 

 size of the common daisy of the fields, it 

 immediately attracts the attention of any 

 visitors. Of course it is really out of class 

 among the old-fashioned flowers, but as it 

 succeeds so admirably in this location and 

 is so much better than the wild plant, I 

 simply cannot help but grow it. 



Special crops, from time to time, bring 

 in little odd sums of money, such as on Deco- 

 ration Day a bed of tulips realized $10, the 

 flowers being sold at the rate of fifty cents a 

 dozen. But although it is a hobby it may 

 be called a well established business, and I 

 have advance orders for certain quantities 

 of flowers in special colors for deliveries on 

 certain dates. My customers are not the 

 local townsfolk, but the visitors who sum- 

 mer here. Some of them have told me, 

 when visiting the garden "We should 

 like to be doing just what you are doing — 

 go out into the garden and work among 

 the flowers — but you see we are in society, 

 and cannot." 





