SUCCESS IN SMALL SPECIALTIES. 



29 



the size of a pea to tons in weight, very close together ; 

 or in the midst of a tangled mass of forest-tree roots. 

 Remembering the small bulb deep in the soil, with its 

 slender and brittle stem, it is not surprising that two- 

 thirds of the bulbs are lost in digging. They will, how- 

 ever, flourish where other garden bulbs will, and with 

 the same treatment. They grow in partial shade or 

 sunshine, flowering in late April or early March. 



Erythroniiim albidnm (White Erythronium). — This is 

 said to be found in southeastern Michigan. I have not 

 seen this handsome species except in herbariums. 



Lilies. — In early childhood, I could gather lilies in 

 this state by the armful, but the plow has long since 

 turned over the land upon which they grew, and one 

 does well to find a small handful. Lilium Canadenw 

 and L. superhum grow in heavy soil, beneath a tough sod 

 largely composed of sedges, and have thick roots about 

 as tough as binder's twine. The brittleness of the stems 

 and the impossibility of exactly locating the roots from 

 the surface, add to the difficulty of getting them, so 

 that to obtain one out of four or five found is a good 

 average. Our native lilies seed freely and grow readily 

 from seed, flowering in about four years. 



Lilmm Canadense. — Two to four feet ; is exceedingly 

 variable, some forms approaching Z. superbum, described 

 next below. The bulbs are composed of coarse, loosely 



spreading, sharp-pointed, often yellowish scales, more 

 than twice the size of those of L. superbum. 



Lilium superbum (Superb Lily). — Four to six feet , 

 leaves narrower and longer, long-pointed, the lower 

 whorled, the upper scattered ; flowers in a large terminal 

 pyramidal panicle-like raceme — usually more than five 

 in number. It is magnificent in cultivation. Both of 

 these lilies have nodding flowers in July. They prefer 

 a heavy clay soil, or moist but heavy muck. 



L. Philadelphiiiiin is usually found upon high, sandy 

 hills, in a light, poor loam, sometimes upon sandy plains, 

 and, once in a while, in wet, sandy places. It grows 15 

 to 20 inches high, bearing one, sometimes two or three 

 flowers. Leaves narrow and numerous, scattered ; 

 flowers broad, bell-shaped, erect, deep orange, spotted 

 at the base. Very handsome. June. 



y^i'/f-r/j- ('/-i'f/rt (Star Grass). Leaves grass-like; flow- 

 ers bright yellow, five-sixths of an inch in diameter, in 

 a sort of umbel. About four inches high. What could 

 be prettier than a lawn sprinkled with these golden 

 stars ? June. 



Zygadenus glaucus. The bulb is the shape and size 

 of a small onion; poisonous; bears many long glau- 

 cous leaves on a tall (one to four feet) branching panicle 

 of curious, pretty flowers. 



Michigan. Wilfred A. Brotherton. 



SUCCESS IN SMALL SPECIALTIES. 



LESSONS FROM GRAND RAPIDS AND KALANL'iZOO. 



^ HE WARNING by horticultural 

 f ^ authorities, "not to put all of 

 our eggs into one basket," 

 is meant more for the fruit- 

 grower than for the vegeta- 

 ble-gardener, and still more 

 for the novice than for the 

 expert. In many cases this 

 warning has no especial significance or value. 



Specialty farming is only for the grower who is ac- 

 quainted with the special demands of his available 

 markets, the special adaptabilities of his soil, and even 

 with his own special energies and special points of 

 strength. Successful specialty farming is seldom the 

 result of premeditated effort, but almost invariably 

 the spontaneous outgrowth of favorable environments. 



Strict confinement to a single branch of fruit-grow- 

 ing is seldom advisable. The single crop, whether it be 

 strawberries, pears, or apples, depends so much on 

 accident and the fickleness of the season that we are 

 never certain of it ; and a complete failure leaves 

 the strict specialist nothing to fall back on. A 

 combination of several lines of fruit-growing, or of 

 one line with other branches of farming, is the only 

 safe resource. Even our neighbor, whom we once 

 called a "Bartlett man on a Bartlett farm in a Bartlett 



locality," and whose Bartlett crop has not failed to give 

 him a pretty fair revenue (up to $2,700 from two acres 

 in a single season) in many years, thinks so, and grows 

 many other things besides Bartlett pears. 



Vegetable-growing presents an altogether different 

 aspect. Here the crops are far less dependent on the 

 whims of the season ; and a complete failure should 

 never occur, when the production of a special crop is 

 based (as it should be) upon a combination of the 

 right man and the right conditions of soil and local- 

 ity. Indeed, we are quite sure that the right en- 

 environments for special crop production are present 

 in thousands of yet undeveloped cases, and only wait 

 for the appearance of the right man to take hold of 

 them, and make a grand success in a special line. 



What great things may often be accomplished in the 

 production of seemingly unimportant crops, is illustrated 

 in two prominent instances — that of the lettuce-growers 

 in Grand Rapids, Mich., and that of the celery-men in 

 Kalamazoo, in the same state. 



LETTUCE-FORCING. 



The pioneer lettuce-grower of Grand Rapids is Mr. 

 Eugene Davis, known as introducer of the Grand Rapids 

 lettuce. The success achieved by him in building up a 

 great industry— the production and sale of greenhouse 

 lettuce— is almost entirely due to the " right man, " who 



