184 THE END OF THE DROUGHT 
will merely have to rake and soften the surface 
of the ground where they have been to give them 
a chance to come up. 
From these yellow poppies I glanced towards 
the Shirley poppies lower down the triangle, near 
the moist point. In spite of the rain, they also' 
were holding themselves up fairly well. Yet, as 
I looked at them closer, I saw that havoc had been 
made among their flowers. The ground beneath 
them was strewn with their tissue-like petals. Only 
the blooms that had barely opened were left to 
show their colours. These Shirley poppies began 
blooming before the yellow ones. Yet I do not 
think that Joseph sprinkled their seeds any earlier 
in the season. Probably it is their habit to be 
quicker in what they do. 
Joseph has the greatest fancy for Shirley pop- 
pies, as I think every one must who has a garden. 
At first his disappointment was keen, because it 
seemed useless to cut them for house bouquets. 
They wilted at once. Now, however, we have 
learned from Miss Wiseman the right way to 
gather them, that they may hold up their heads 
for at least two days. We take a large bucket of 
hot water to the bed, as we do when picking helio- 
trope, and plunge the stems into it deeply as they 
are cut. Usually we let them remain in this water 
for about an hour, or until they are thoroughly 
soaked. After that I arrange them in tall vases. 
We pick only the flowers that have newly opened, 
