WAKE ROBIN FARM | 
and sunlight. Indifferent to soil, easily established, 
grows in dry, poor ground. Self-seeding, and the fleshy 
brittle root can be propagated by division. 25c each. 
Calamus; Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus). Sword:like 
leaves of this bog plant are atmospheric. The flower- 
ing spike is hobnailed with tiny blossoms in June and 
July. Well known to many a boy is the pungent, 
pleasant flavor. The root is medicinal, dried or can- 
died, and rated of old as a tonic for feeble digestion 
-and dyspepsia. Used as part of incense by Egyptians, 
long before King Tutankhamen, and by the peoples 
of Israel, Babylon and Greece. Sold in the markets of 
Tyre (Ezekiel); Solomon sang of “spikenard and saf- 
fron, calamus and cinnamon”; and Moses prepared 
“holy ointment of pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, cassia, 
olive oil and sweet calamus.” It grows here 1 to 3 
feet high; its light shiny green sets off the edges of 
brooks and pools, and will camouflage the ugliest 
domestic ditch. 25c each; $2.50 for 12. 
Calla, Wild; Water Arum (Calla palustris). From the 
cold slime bogs of the Cape of Good Hope comes 
this immigrant to American garden pools. Its very 
name, ‘palustris’ points to its swampy taste. Its root 
is a bright green stick which adds yearly shoots to 
ohe end and dies off at the other, restless and migrant, 
in an inching sort of way. Grows 5 to 10 inches above 
marsh level, upright and sturdy, with white flowers in 
June and bright red berries in August. Easily grown 
by simply pressing into the mud of any boggy nook. 
Arum Family, cousin of Calamus. 25c¢ each. 
Canada Mayflower; Wild Lily of the Valley (Maianthe- 
mum canadense). A low woodland plant with a small 
fuzzy head of white flowers in May and June, fol- 
lowed by ruby-red berries in the fall. Transplants 
grow into large masses, with creeping tangled roots, 
forming close, matted ground cover. 20c each. 
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). Native to moist 
and boggy soil, or to deep wet woods, this brightest 
of scarlet flowers blazes from July to September, when 
color is scarce, in almost any garden. The astounding 
red draws humming birds, the only agency able to 
cross-fertilize. Grows 2 to 4 feet high in any damp 
place. Subject to freezing in winter unless covered 
with several inches of leaves, which are drawn back 
in spring and left for mulch. Protection is important; 
extinction 1s imminent; sparse planting is more ef- 
fective than massing. Its name was suggested by the 
color of a Cardinal’s robe. 25c each; $2.50 for 12. 
Cat Tail (Typha latifolia). Grows lustily in bogs and 
wherever it finds constant water. Spreads happily and 
tenaciously by root extension, taking sure possession 
of its corner. Inventive children of the past have used 
its stems for arrows and its plumes for torches. No 
snob, it sways and nods in sentinel rows, as often as 
not, down by the railroad tracks. 25c¢ each. 
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