50 
scarlet color. Blooming after the other 
varieties are faded and gone, it can re- 
ceive no pollen from them and being 
apparently self-sterile, it forms no 
seeds. 
After the plants are done blooming, 
it is my invariable custom to go over 
the beds and remove all seed pods, ex- 
cept such as I may have hand pollen- 
ated and desire for seed. This re- 
lieves the roots from a considerable 
drain and gives the beds a neater ap- 
pearance. The foliage soon dies down 
and in a few weeks can be cut away 
entirely. The roots are then at rest. 
Like the Iris, the Poppy seems to 
profit from a thorough baking during 
the months of August and early Sep- 
tember, so I strongly oppose planting 
among them, any annual, requiring a 
stirring of the soil, or more than an 
ordinary amount of water. Let them 
strictly alone at this time. With the 
coming of the early fall rains, the roots 
quickly show signs of growth and can 
then be transplanted with perfect 
safety. Old plants may be divided, 
leaving one or more eyes to a root as 
with the Peony, or the whole plant 
may be cut into short lengths and put 
in moist sand, where eyes readily form. 
These new plants may later be put into 
their permanent beds. The broken 
roots, where the old plants were dis- 
turbed, usually form eyes and if left 
until the next fall make splendid 
plants. 
No plant is easier to manage than 
the Poppy at this time, but failure 
most often follows any attempt to 
move them during their growing sea- 
son. To protect the new growth, cover 
before hard freezing with three or four 
inches of leaves. This covering needs 
not be lifted in the spring for the 
leaves quickly push through it and 
drooping over, cover it nicely. It is 
thus a protection, a mulch and in the 
end, a fertilizer. I have read that if 
one would rouse the plants from their 
sleep, by giving shade and abundant 
moisture in late August, they would 
bloom in the fall but I never took the 
information seriously. However, last 
season was very hot and dry here, fol- 
lowed in early September by copious 
rainfall ; the Poppy roots sprang into 
quick growth, the leaves pushed up 
and up and lo ! plump, big flower buds 
made their appearance. I began to 
chuckle how I was going to surprise 
my friends, when a light frost checked 
their growth, another made them 
groggy and a third put them down and 
out. No more fall blooming for me ! 
To grow Poppy plants from seed, 
sow as early in the spring as the ground 
can be safely worked, carefully stak- 
ing the rows. The young plants die 
down after making their spring growth 
and without the stakes to guide, their 
location might be lost. Lift the seed- 
lings in the early fall, plant in their per- 
manent beds, cover with a light mulch 
to prevent heaving and let alone. Most 
of them will bloom the following 
spring. The type seems unusually well 
fixed and no matter how careful you 
may be in selecting your seed parent, 
the seedlings most always revert to the 
original type. When a break in color 
Obe Slower (Brower 
is made, the stock can only be in- 
creased by division from this individ- 
ual root. By collecting and drying the 
pollen I hope to be able to preserve it 
long enough to fertilize varieties 
blooming at different seasons and thus 
realize results desired but not yet at- 
tained. 
For landscape effect the Oriental 
Poppy is hardly excelled but as a cut 
flower it is usually disappointing. 
Sometimes the blooms will hold in 
splendid condition for several days 
and then again they will droop within 
a few hours and no amount of coaxing 
can bring them up. I have had best 
results from bending the stems into a 
vessel of water and while submerged, 
cut, thus preventing air rushing in 
and closing the intercellular spaces 
in the severed stem ends. Some claim 
success from searing the stem ends by 
dipping for a few seconds in boiling 
water but all agree that with its thick 
milky sap it is one flower not benefited 
by daily fresh cutting the stem end. 
To all who have been told that the 
Oriental Poppy is hard to grow I would 
say— forget it ! Get dormant plants in 
the early fall, named varieties as 
truly as you would in the Peony. If 
they reach you looking like a bundle 
of dry sticks, don’t think them dead and 
throw them away for they are likely 
all right. I have imported the naked 
roots clear from Holland and not lost 
a plant. Give full sunshine and good 
drainage and a light mulch for winter 
protection. Keep fresh manure from 
them, as sacredly as you would from 
your choicest Peonies. Don’t coddle 
them, don’t dig about them when 
growing, let them strictly alone to 
grow or rest as they choose. If you will 
do this I fearlessly make the assertion 
that no matter what other flowers 
your garden may contain, at their sea- 
son of blooming, and in spite of their 
seeming boldness, your beds of Oriental 
Poppies will draw the crowd and prove 
the Merry-Go-Round of your Floral 
Show. 
Anaesthetics for 
Tree Transplanting. 
According to a London dispatch a 
scientist from India has not only sug- 
gested the use of anaesthetics for the 
treatment of trees to enable them to 
withstand the shock of transplanting, 
but this gentleman produces the pho- 
tographs of large trees which have 
been successfully transplanted under 
this treatment. It is unfortunate that 
no definite information was given as to 
what anaesthetics were used or how 
they are applied. The mere fact of 
successful application is interesting, 
but it does not get us anywhere so far 
as practical application is concerned. 
A subscriber wants to know how to 
raise Cyclamen from seed without the 
aid of a greenhouse. Can any of our 
readers give us either brief or com- 
plete information on this subject ? The 
Flower Grower is especially anxious 
to print facts and information about 
flowering plants which do not require 
greenhouse facilities. 
April, 1920 
Sanity in Flower Growing. 
By Mrs. Lester Bellamy. 
[ Written expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
In reading the various magazines it 
is surprising to see the different opin- 
ions in regard to certain things. One 
man says that after raising various 
flowers he settles down on one variety, 
and discards all others. What ! Turn 
a cold shoulder to all the loves of a 
lifetime. Just as well turn down all 
but one human friend. As for me, 
after having possessed a flower no in- 
ducement can tear it away. I want it, 
and its uncles and its cousins and its 
aunts. 
Another suggests that we grow flow- 
ers and give them away. Just as well 
grow wheat and give it away. To him 
who would eat without paying the 
price, we say : “ Go to the ant thou 
sluggard, consider her ways and be 
wise.” To her who would have flow- 
ers, I’d say : Get out and hoe, pay the 
price. There is too much of some toil- 
ing and others reaping the benefit of 
their toil. I know of women who 
spend large sums of money for clothes, 
but expect to get their flowers, bulbs, 
plants and shrubs from their friends 
free of cost. When I run across one 
of these, about all the ugliness in me 
comes to the surface. The more the 
beggar wheedles the more indignant I 
become. Some time I am wondering 
if there won’t be an explosion inside 
of my body, and the garden strewn with 
pieces of my anatomy too small to 
gather up. In this case soft words do 
not turn away wrath, they add to it. 
Don’t I ever give away plants? Yes, 
to some poor person who would buy 
them if she could. Do I ever give 
away flowers? Yes, to some worthy 
cause. Do I give to the ladies who sit 
on verandas and rock ? Not often. 
That would be cheapening the flowers 
and they deserve a better fate than 
that. People are welcome to come to 
my garden and see the flowers and 
realize that they, too, might have some 
if they were not too indolent to grow 
them. 
Another writer says we should have 
our flowers all labelled. I’ll have to 
admit that of my hundred varieties of 
the Peony, I’ve forgotten the given 
names of some. So, if a new one ar- 
rived, I’d have to say Miss Alice Carey 
or Martha Bulloch (as the case might 
be) allow me to introduce you to the 
Peony sisters. 
Of the 35 Irises some look so much 
alike that should I address one by the 
wrong name she might be very indig- 
nant, feeling herself much superior to 
the one mentioned. She might even 
become contrary in revenge and not 
respond to my fine treatment of intense 
cultivation. 
Still another writer says : Why 
trouble to label if the names are not 
to be remembered, as well send mixed 
ones to begin with. No ! not as well, 
for some mixed collections are mixed 
from varieties the grower is throwing 
away as worthless. We need the names 
to catch him with in case he is cheat- 
ing. 
