The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1906-05-05
CONCERNING THE POPPY.
Having Tap Roots, They Do Not Bear
T-ans2lanting-rhe Beauty of
Various Varieties.

The glorious and gaudy army OF
lpoppes make brave marshall!ng I'M
der a midsummer sun There is no
floral sight more brilliant in color
than garden of poppies in full bloom.
The petals are SO thin and delicate no
finsect can alight on them, and the
Etransitory nature of the bloom has
poets 10 point the brief endurance
of the joys of the senses. But like
Joy, they're worth having even if they
don't last long, and no garden is COM
pete without them.
| Poppies have tap-roots and seeds
must be sowed where the plants are
to bloom. And they will bloom any
where. ANY place which would ordi-
narily be occupied by woods may be
safely given over to peoples. There
are many kinds-the Shirley. Iceland,
Alpine. Oriental, California-and they
are all good they are double. single,
fringed, tall and short, annual and
perennial, and they're all worth while.
Shirley peoples are perhaps the ia
vorite They are so daintily, delicate
y beautiful as TO merit the term
sometimes applied TO them, fairy
flowers" The Iceland peoples are
rather more robust; they are classed
as perennial, but like hollyhocks, the
seed should be sowed every second
year In this species are to be had
the most splendid yellow flowers of the
poppy family--i& we except the Esch-
scholtzia. which does not actually be-
long to the same genus as the COM
mon poppy. Iceland peoples will bloom
the first season from seed if started
in the hotbed or house; the colors are
white, yellow and orange e.
To my mind the single peoples are
far more beautiful than the double
varieties, though many admire the
big, peony-havored kinds. some of
which have their petals cut and
fringed in a fantastic fashion. They
are certainly very SNOWY in the gar
den, as they stand fully three feet
high, and give large, imposing flow
ers. often five or six inches across,
produced in early summer.
The esehseholtzia, or California pops
py, loves the sun and stands heat
like a little salamander 1t, too. should
be sown where il is TO flower. II
blooms freely and keeps it up all
summer. All the peoples bloom more
continuously If cut freely. They are
not generally much esteemed as cut
flowers. but If cut early in the morn
ing. Just as they are about to unfold,
they will open and last several days,
and new buds will soon replace those
cut. The Iceland peoples are most
for this purpose, and will last
in favoring conditions for four OF
five days.
Poppy seed is very fine and difficult
to SOW thinly enough in consequence.
A good plan is TO mix the contents \
Of packet OF seed with a teacupfnl I
of sand and scatter It on soil that has
been raked mellow and fine, then press
Il in with a board. Sow as soon as
the ground is fit. When the seed.
lngs appear thin them so they viii
stand about a foot apart. If peoples
are crowded they will throw up q
'ew slender stems bearing few flow.
,rs; given room, they branch freely
md produce more flowers and for
onger time. II has been said that
'oppy seed sowed in August gives
icher-colored flowers than that sowed
n the spring Michigan Farm and
i've Stock.