Portrait of the fortunate woman's hus- 
band, who makes wife and children happy 
and home pleasant. 
Other of our large, brilliant flowers. It is fine in its place, but not fine for a display in the 
garden. A pen-knife is good for the purpose for which it was designed, but it is not exactly 
fitted for wood-chopping. I advertise double Zinnias, double Stocks, &c.; but you have no right 
to complain and think you are cheated if one-fourth should come single, but should pull up the 
single ones as fast as they show their character, and enjoy 
the good instead of mourning over the bad. Many varie- 
ties of double flowers do not give seed, so we have to 
obtain double seed by fertilizing the single flowers with the 
pollen of the double, and by other slow and difficult pro- 
cesses known to the experienced seed-grower. These 
operations are usually only partially successful, and, as a 
necessary consequence, some of the seed will give single 
flowers ; and yet intelligent men, and correspondents of the 
press, and officers of Agricultural societies, and others who 
ought to know better, often scold, and write complainingly 
because seed purchased as double produced single flowers. 
Again, I advertise separate colors of Phlox Drummondii, 
Dianthus, Asters, &c. Occasionally, with some of these, 
you will find a little mixture of color. This, with some 
things, can not be avoided, even with the greatest care. 
There always has been, and always will be, a little uncertainty in growing flowers from seed. 
They are prone to mix and "sport." If it were not for this disposition, we could never obtain 
new varieties. When plants or trees are grown from cuttings, or are produced by budding or 
grafting, all mixture is the result of carelessness, 
accident or fraud. This is not the case with plants 
produced from seed. While many varieties will come 
almost or quite true from seed, with good care, others 
are far less reliable in this respect. All I can prom- 
ise is that I have done all that human care and skill 
can do to produce distinct colors, and when there is 
very much uncertainty in regard to color I advertise 
them only as "mixed colors." For this reason I 
advertise only " mixed colors" of many varieties. 
Occasionally we hear complaint that seeds do not 
grow — perhaps one or two varieties failed out of a 
hundred, and the cultivator is like the shepherd in 
the Scriptures, who left the ninety-nine in the wilder- 
ness and went in search of the lost one. This was well for the shepherd and the sheep, but is 
not a good plan for florists and flower seeds. If you have ten or twenty varieties, and all 
grow nicely but one or two, just enjoy the success, instead of making yourself miserable over 
failures. The best and most skillful gardeners will 
fail occasionally, and neither the seed nor the gar- 
dener be very much to blame. Every professional 
g|rdener knows this. There is a wonder — a mys- 
tery — in vegetable as well as in animal life. Our 
friends fail, droop and die — our little ones pass away 
iust as they are taking deep root in our hearts. We 
feel the deathly pangs, but cannot save. But the 
variety that failed was the one of all you most 
desired. Of course, what we cannot have we always 
want the most. The fish that escapes from the hook 
is always the largest. 
The woman whose flower seeds all come up. guj-^ \{ you f^il to any great extent, make up your 
mind there is trouble somewhere — some mismanagement — and resolve to find it out, if possi- 
ble. Don't jump at the conclusion that the seed was bad, because it is not true, and thousands 
will praise the seed you condemn as bad. By concluding that you are all right and the seed all 
11 
The woman whose flower seeds never come up 
unless they are scratched up. 
