86 
£?l)fc~3Flower (Brower 
September, 1919 
as the plants gain in strength and en- 
durance. 
If not allowed to go to seed, the Del- 
phinium is a dependable, profuse and 
also a continuous bloomer. By severe 
pruning and gross feeding, a second and 
even a third crop of flowers may be 
secured, and the season of bloom ex- 
tended from June until heavy frosts, 
for besides its many other sterling 
qualities it will successfully endure 
light frosts, standing tall and unharmed 
when most of its garden companions 
have been blackened or cut down by 
the ruthless hand of Jack Frost. 
Mrs. Hammond's little daughter. Melvina B. Ham- 
mond, among the Larkspurs which thrive on the 
north side of Mrs. Hammond's country home, “ The 
Castle,’’ near New York City. 
If you have never grown the im- 
proved varieties of Delphiniums you 
have a great treat in store. Stop beat- 
ing time and try some of the new sorts. 
Secure a packet of choice seeds, plant 
them, and lay the foundation for a long 
and glorious feast for the eyes for 
many seasons to come. 
Reviving Wilted Flowers. 
Mr. Christman, Secretary of the 
Northwestern Peony & Iris Society, in 
the Minnesota Horticulturist calls atten- 
tion to the method of reviving wilted 
Peonies by placing the stems in very 
hot water. This scheme can be made 
useful in connection with Dahlias and 
other flowers as well, and the fact 
should be understood and remembered 
by all interested in cut flowers. 
Peony — Festiva Maxima. 
By many this grand double white 
Peony is thought to be the best. This, of 
course, is a strong statement to make, 
but, anyway, it is certainly a glorious 
flower, and the large pure white bloom 
with scarlet markings in the center 
make a most striking appearance in its 
season. Festiva Maxima is a strong 
grower and a sure bloomer, and it is 
sure that no collection is complete 
without it. 
The Blue 
By Wilbur 
[ IV ritten expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
Y OUR readers, or many of them, 
no doubt are familiar with the 
beautiful Fringed Blue Gentian — 
that widely distributed and yet 
somewhat rare Autumn-blooming wild 
flower, that late in the season lifts its 
sky-blue whorls, even to the time of 
the early snow fall. After most other 
flowers have had their day and disap- 
peared, the Gentian is the humble-bee’s 
latest prize, though he is forced to ex- 
ert himself to gain an entrance through 
its closed door-way which bars access 
to the sweets within, but will at length 
yield to his urgency, though closed to 
most other honey-seekers. Many who 
may not be thus familiar with it in 
Nature’s gardens are still acquainted 
with it in the garden of Poesy, and will 
readily recall the enchanting lines of 
Bryant in which he apostrophizes it 
thus: 
“ Thou blossom bright with Autumn dew. 
And colored with the heavens' own hue. 
That openest when the quiet light 
Succeeds the keen and frosty night. 
Thou comest not when violets lean 
O’er wand’rins brook and springs unseen. 
Or columbines, in purple dressed. 
Nod o’er the ground-bird’s hidden nest. 
Thou waitest late, and comest lone. 
When woods are bare and birds are flown. 
And frosts and shortening days portend 
The aged year is near his end. 
Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye 
Look through its fringes to the sky. 
Blue— Blue — as if that sky let fall 
A star from its cerulean wall. 
I would that thus, when I shall see 
The hour of death draw near to me, 
Hope, blossoming within my heart. 
May look to Heaven as I depart.” 
How unerringly this great poet per- 
ceived the lovely aspects of life, both 
natural and spiritual. How this in- 
sight is shown in his “Lines to a Water- 
fowl,” no doubt another Autumn in- 
spiration. Who would not be touched 
by these beautiful lines? 
“ Whither, midst fall ng dew. 
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day. 
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue 
Thy solitary way ? 
* * * * * 
There is a Power whose care 
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast. 
The desert and illimitable air. 
Lone wandering, but not lost. 
» * k * * 
He who, from zone to zone 
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight. 
Through the lone way that I must tread alone 
Will guide my steps aright.” 
But I started to write about the 
Gentian. The Fringed Blue Gentian is 
a distinctively American flower, widely 
scattered, and yet not common. There 
are many who would not recognize it, 
having perhaps never seen it as it 
grows. I know that many years of my 
life had passed before I came to know 
it, and during a life one of whose 
greatest pleasures it has always been 
to wander through woods and fields, 
seeking after treasures of Nature, flow- 
ers or plants hidden away after her 
shy fashion, I have learned of com- 
paratively few locations where it was to 
be found. One of these, in which it has 
Gentian. 
A. Christy. 
spread quite freely over a limited area, 
is in a river flat, at the foot of a high 
bank just back of my home, where I 
have had the pleasure of gathering its 
beautiful blossoms of their varying 
shades of richest blue, and of sharing 
my “find” with others who had never 
seen or known it, and of sending by 
mail to some distance. 
Imagine then, if you can, my “ state 
of mind ” when I noted that this plot 
had been ruthlessly plowed up and the 
Gentian probably exterminated in the 
preparation of a “ war garden.” The 
sweet flowers that meant so much 
more to me than anybody’s corn and 
beans. I do not think I am naturally 
malicious, but it surely did give me a 
small measure of gratification to see 
that at harvest time the aforesaid “corn 
and beans” were a complete failure. 
And then I thought, “even here, the 
rude plowshare of war reaches across 
half a world, only to destroy.” 
“ Which thing is a parable.” The 
flower of many a family, sheltered and 
secluded, has gone down in direst 
wreckage and ruin, and is no more, in 
the path of war. The youngest of our 
own family had just been transferred 
from training ship to battle ship, and 
letters are rare and strictly censored, 
lest some chance shred of information 
should leak out in regard to destina- 
tion or duty. And if, with his ship, he 
should be sent to the bottom of the sea 
by some ruthless submarine, we may 
never know. Oh, spirit of war, “if thou 
hast no other name to be known by, 
let us call thee devil.” 
It seems a far cry from wild flowers 
to war and the carnage of battle, but 
it is hard to forget the horrors of the 
dreadful work of destruction, which 
sweeps away the fairest flowers of 
earth and of the home without re- 
morse. What about the responsibility 
of one, who, more than a million times 
a murderer, holding the leash in his 
hands, deliberately chose to let loose 
the dogs of war, thirsting for blood, 
upon an unoffending world ? 
This has surely been a Hollyhock 
season. Not in some years have they 
bloomed so continuously and profusely. 
Weather conditions seem to have just 
suited them. The editor grows Holly- 
hocks by simply allowing them to re- 
seed themselves each year, keeping 
weeds hoed out and allowing only the 
most vigorous plants to grow. This 
method has resulted in a good display 
of Hollyhock bloom every year, and 
the different varieties seem to seed 
themselves with reasonable uniformity, 
as none seem especially stronger grow- 
ers than the others. 
A reader wants to know about a 
remedy for green fly infesting Holly- 
hocks. Can any of our readers sug- 
gest a remedy ? 
