The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-13

about one-half mile distant from the city proper, on a beautiful hill over- | Joking the business section, in a thickly settled neighborhood of well-kept homes, the writer, in search of busy women, strolled through the lawn lead | ing to the home of Mrs Mollie Allen, | a sster-in-law of Congressman John Allen Mrs. Allen was busy on the porch, finishing up a beautiful set of | chocolate. cups, and after a few prelim | mary remarks it did not take long to discover Mrs Allen had only recently , inherited the title of "mother-in-la The wedding was just a few days over. and with great pride she pointed to the
 magnificent gifts from friends from all
 over the land, and among them we found some cards of Birmingham friends It looked as if Miss Allen had
 made a narrow escape from becoming
 one of this cty's acquisitions, but a little further south her native state claimed her.
 The subject that most interested me was to be seen In it's infancy, just through the lattice work. of green vines-for many time had been asked, Have you ever seen Mrs. Allen's chrysanthemums? and afterwards I became anxious to know about this en- terprise and this suggested the visit there.
 I found a real story of a beautiful ndustry-beautiful from many views. First, to think of acres of green plants just in view of the veranda, placed at distances of about two feet apart, and staked as we treat our tomatoes in Alabama gardens. When questioned, Miss Allen was very courteous and ap- preciative of the interest manifested in her enterprise To speak of 1t as
 hers, conveys the real truth, for she
 has bought her experience and now | At..- aA .t.. Woman-l like. and, we might say, hu-
 man-like, we jumped to ask how much
 money there was in the business? Im-
 agine my surprise when Mrs. Allen told
 me she cleared 5000 off of her last falls sales. and that she sold 10000 blooms last All Saints Day!
 Now, is Mrs. Allen the only woman that can grow chrysanthemums? This led on | to a history of the crop and details of the industry. and Mrs. Allen kindly gave per mission to me to print this story that others might be benefited. Example is
 a fine tonic--and maybe this one will stimulate the interest in very fascinat- | ing industry-and one that will not re- uuire all year round work, and engages
 about one acre of ground.
 Mrs. Allen buys her plants, in number
 about 5000 or 4O0O. She first prepares her
 soil as for cottton planting. uslng bone meal, barn and poultry yard fertlllzer. Tne
 cultivation requires about the same treat ment as cotton. The plant is only allowed lto produce two blooms This gives a per- feet flower. The stem could bear more,
 but there is more profit in quality, and
 Mrs. Allen appreciates the best in every
 thing.
 l Yellow and white are the most popular
 colors and for which there is greater de-
 mand. There is always a market for the flowers. but New Orleans, Mobile, Mem- phis and St. Louis are the ones in nearest
 reach of the shipping point. or course Ithe fall months are the season for har- vesting the fruits of this toll, and then the season would seem flat. but Mrs. Allen | Is resourceful and her energy works hand in hand with a well developed business lsense, so she has other fields to grow, and she told me of her splendid success ] with double violets, last season netting
 $400 from their sales. And she tells me
 anybody can grow violets. 4. l If facts gathered from these, stories are
 utilized. and they are facts, it does seem
 that Alabama would be dotted with flower
 gardens, poultry yards, etc., that would
 bring an independence, while making the
 home more comfortable. Work attends any kind of success, but work well planned
 and conducted is a surety of. successfu'
 results. likeness is not rest, for with
 much incidence we are striving to. an
 aimless end.