863 
THE RURAL NEW -YORKER 
1914. 
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II The Wild Flower Collector II 
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New Business for Country Girls 
By Ida M. Jackson || 
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P LANTS DESIRED.—All the early 
Spring flowers are listed except Eri- 
genia bulbosa, popularly known in early 
days as “Turkey peas,” “salt and pepper,” 
and “Harbinger of Spring.” This charm¬ 
ing little umbel blooms very early, along 
with the little white Trillium nivale. 
There seem to be but few known sta¬ 
tions for E. bulbosa any more, and if a 
collector finds a little plantation of it 
great care should be taken to preserve it. 
The flowers are delightfully fragrant, 
and its foliage, so airy and fern-like, 
lasts till mid-June. A collector may be 
called on for any of the following plants: 
Ilepatica, Spring beauty, bloodroot, 
Dutchman’s breeches, buttercup, blue 
violets, rue anemone, false rue anemone, 
Wood anemone, blue vervain, Erythro- 
nium, Calamus, Greek valerian, marsh 
marigold, brown Trilliums, yellow violets, 
white violets, larkspur, sweet william, 
Oxalis violacea, Corydalis, blue-eyed grass, 
virgin’s bower, Indian turnip, spider lily, 
eranesbill, blue flag, yellow puccoon, In¬ 
dian pink, wake-robin, Collinsia, celan¬ 
dine poppy, shooting star, bluebells, star 
grass, lilies, mint. 
About the middle of May those aris¬ 
tocrats of the forest the orchids, 
make their appearance. These are all 
listed. The insignificant little green- 
flowered Habenaria bracteata and the 
truly sweet and beautiful Orchis spec- 
tabilis are often found growing together 
on low rich ground well shaded by tim¬ 
ber. Orchis spectabilis, when well-grown, 
is a splendid plant, and transplants as 
easily as a cabbage. I was so fortunate 
as to find a little colony of albino Orchis 
spectabilis. They are of waxy white¬ 
ness, and the most beautiful flower I ever 
saw. There is a white form of Camassia 
Fraseri and a lovely and very fragrant 
wild blush rose that are not mentioned in 
the botanies. The country girl must keep 
in mind that there is always a possibility 
of finding something new. 
Tiie Orchids. —A little later in May 
we find the splendid oriental looking yel¬ 
low lady’s-slipper with the barbaric pur¬ 
ple and brown sepals hanging like cork¬ 
screw curls at each side of the “slipper.” 
This plant does well in the wild garden. 
Late in June the beautiful pink and 
white lady’s-slipper, Cypripedium specta- 
bile, peeps out of her sheltering bower. 
A number of years ago the president of 
a Massachusetts college found a clump 
of pure white Cypripedium spectabile. It 
is thought he kept the locality a secret. 
Most of the orders for Cypripedium spec¬ 
tabile are filled in Michigan. Here they 
are dug by the hundred thousand. There 
should be a law against the indiscrimin¬ 
ate slaughter of these innocents—for 
slaughter it is. No known plant, ex¬ 
cepting Arethusa bulbosa, resents trans¬ 
planting as does this queenly orchid. It 
languishes in captivity for a few short 
years and finally dies of a broken heart. 
Aplectrum hyemale (puttyroot or Adam- 
and-Eve) “the ugly duckling” of the or¬ 
chid family, also blooms in June. It was 
once common enough but now it is con¬ 
sidered rare. Its one large silky leaf is 
evergreen. 
The Trilliums. —It is also in Michi¬ 
gan where Trillium grandiflorum grows 
so bountifully. There are three forms 
of this elegant plant; one blooms white 
and turns brown when withered, another 
blooms white and turns pink, and still 
another blooms pink and remains so. 
This last is the highest priced, bringing 
two dollars more per thousand. Trillium 
grandiflorum is shipped in large numbers 
to England, where it is prized above any 
other of our wild flowers. All the Tril- 
limns seem to enjoy civilization, and are 
of great decorative value. The price is 
far too low for such desirable plants, 
Trillium recurvatum selling for three 
dollars per thousand and Trillium gran¬ 
diflorum for five dollars per thousand. 
Last season a collector in Michigan, with 
two assistants, gathered and packed 25,- 
000 Trillium grandiflorum in six days. 
The deal netted him nearly twelve dollars 
per day. 
Other “Best Sellers.” —Spring beau¬ 
ties sell for two dollars per thousand, 
and at first thought that seems very low 
priced, but they generally are found in 
such numbers that one could easily make 
ten dollars a day digging them. One 
more example: A man and boy got out 
3,000 maidenhair ferns in two days. 
These were sold for $7.50 per thousand. 
The expenses were $3.00, which de¬ 
ducted from $22.50, leaves $19.50 profit. 
If such cases happened every day in the 
year collectors would soon be rich. More 
often they happen the other way. Some¬ 
times we accept orders that do not pay 
us fifty cents per day; this may be on 
account of stock being scarcer than we 
anticipated, or too late to find the plants. 
There is always some one wanting some¬ 
thing out of season. When the bloom is 
gone your chance of finding the plants is 
about one in a thousand. Last year a 
customer wanted snake-root in November. 
Preparing For Orders. — I would ad¬ 
vise the country girl to start a bed of 
wild lilies, as they are always in demand. 
The wild tiger lilies (Lilium Canadense) 
and Lilium Philadelphicum are the com¬ 
monest, and grow finely in low rich 
ground. A lily bed 200 feet square would 
hold 10,000 plants, and would be worth 
from $300 to $500. Besides these stand¬ 
ard plants that have been mentioned 
there is often a call for something 
“queer”—like beechdrops, Indian pipe, 
lizard-tail, etc. When you locate any of 
these plants make a note of it, for they 
generally bring a good price. There is 
also another class of plants much in de¬ 
mand ; these are mostly medicinal in char¬ 
acter, though some few possess decorative 
value. Among these the most widely 
“hunted” plant is Hydrastis Canadensis, 
or golden seal. There are orders out 
sometimes for 10,000 plants, and not a 
single, solitary one forthcoming. A bed 
of golden seal is next thing to a gold 
mine. 
Showy Flowers. —All in all, the most 
sought after plant is that tall, incom¬ 
parable “primrose,” Dodecatheon Meadia, 
commonly called “shooting star.” Like 
the fringed gentian the shooting star 
must have rich muck soil—real peat is 
the best—to grow to its grandest propor¬ 
tions. “Shooting star” seeds abundantly, 
and when once started produces countless 
thousands in only a few years’ time. Al¬ 
though there are several desirable gen¬ 
tians the blue fringed sort is the best. 
Gather the gentian seeds as soon as ripe 
and plant it very early the next Spring. 
In this way you can be reasonably sure 
to have gentians every year. They are 
a fickle flower. One year you have them 
and maybe the next year you don’t. If 
the wild flower seeds were gathered and 
kept till early the next Spring and then 
planted it would be possible in a season 
or two to have fine beds of any of the 
desirable wild flowers of our locality. Of 
course there are exceptions to this rule; 
some seeds must be sown at once to in¬ 
sure germination. 
Growing Native Plants. —The coun¬ 
try girl with a half acre of ground plant¬ 
ed to 50 of the most popular wild flowers 
has not only a good living in sight, but 
can start a bank account. Every season 
a certain collector sells from a small 
plot of ground 2,000 roots of Oxalis vio¬ 
lacea. Get your florist’s catalogue and 
see how much they sell for at retail, and 
then calculate how much you could make 
from one square rod of ground planted to 
this dainty little blossom. You can 
grow 2,000 Oxalis roots to the square 
rod, and have room to spare. Many of 
our most beautiful wild flowers are fast 
disappearing. Those that are transferred 
to public parks and large private estates 
are sure of kind treatment. It is in ac¬ 
cordance with our desire to protect the 
wild flowers to collect for the trade, pro¬ 
vided it is done in moderation. It is not 
like caging an animal for the Zoo; on 
the contrary, many plants are greatly 
benefited by change of situation. 
Pictures in the Home. 
Last July I invested $1.15 in a way 
which has given me so much pleasure 
that I wish to pass it on to other readers 
of The R. N.-Y. In June I sent to one 
of the firms which priut reproductions of 
famous pictures for their catalogue. 
From it I selected 120 of their one-cent 
pictures, the number they would send for 
one dollar. I also bought a 10-eent tube 
of library paste, and got several sheets 
of unruled white paper. When the pic¬ 
tures came I sorted them, making two 
kinds, those which would go lengthwise 
and those which would go crosswise on 
a sheet of paper. I laid these pictures in 
piles face down. 
I pasted my white sheets of paper in 
several places on the walls of my rooms, 
then put several dabs of paste on the back 
of a picture and placed it on the white 
paper. When I become acquainted with 
a picture thoroughly I remove it and 
substitute another. I see these while 
doing my daily work, and so without 
losing time become familiar with the 
world’s greatest art treasures. It gives 
me a change of thought. Engravings 
come not only of pictures but statuary, 
architecture, etc. By having the pictures 
placed face downward one has pleasant 
surprises when changing and after a pic¬ 
ture has been used I pass it on to a neigh¬ 
bor who uses it in the same way. The 
firm I patronized tells to what school 
each artist belonged in their catalogue, 
while on each picture, nearly, is given 
the date of the artist’s birth and death, 
also in what museum or cathedral the 
picture is now. ruth e. clement. 
Here are a few specimens of excuses 
actually received by teachers on behalf of 
scholars under their charge: “Dear sir, 
please excuse James for lateness, I 
kneaded him after brekfust.” “Please 
forgive Billy for being tardy, I was mend¬ 
ing his coat.” “Mister sir. my John had 
to be late today. It is his bisness to milk 
our cow. She kicked John in the back 
today when he wasn’t looking or think¬ 
ing of her actin’ so suddin. So he thot 
his back was broke, but it ain’t. But it 
is black and blue, and the pane kept him 
late.”—London Farm and Dome. 
TRILLIUM, WAKE-ROBIN OR BIRTIIROOT. 
Anty Drudge —“My goodness, Mrs. 
Careless, have you got neuralgia 
again? That’s just what I told you 
would happen, washing the old 
way, with hot water. You have 
to rub the clothes so hard you 
get all overheated, and then you 
fill your kitchen with hot, sudsy 
steam while you boil your wash. 
No wonder you take cold, com¬ 
ing right out in the air. I haven’t 
had a cold nor neuralgia since I 
started using Fels-Naptha Soap 
and cool or lukewarm water for 
my washing and all my house¬ 
work.” 
Lots of women 
don’t know how 
to do their work 
easily,quickly and 
better than it was 
ever done before— 
but there is a way. 
It’s the Fels- 
Naptha way. 
Fels-Naptha 
Soap, in cool or 
lukewarm water, 
without hard rub¬ 
bing or boiling, 
makes the dirtiest 
clothes clean and 
white. It’s just as 
good for all kinds 
of housework and 
in the milkroom, 
and it’s the pleas¬ 
ant way to do dis¬ 
agreeable work. 
Buy it by the box or carton and 
follow directions on the Red and 
Green Wrapper. 
