Evening star., 1923-09-23
Mps.HELEN FOWLER
We sh i4gtors Ch amp ioN
! lily farther She opera.
teS AHte fica's LARGEST
liN farm OF oe poRds
that cover ~ acres.

it will change to pale pink blue,
while the third evening it will assume
a rosy red hue. In the tropical coun-
tries. the night-bloomer makes all
these color transformations in sin
gle evening and then closes Its bud.
An interesting feature of the Fow-
ler lily farm is the Victoria Regia. a
mammoth tropical water plant, which
covers an area of thirty square feet
and produces leaves that are six
feet in diameter. This mastodon of
aquatic plants is native of South
America. 1t was introduced into Eng
land, where it was named after Queen
Victoria. 1t makes as great and rapid
growth as any plant known to mod
ern Horticulture. Queer to tell, it is
produced from seeds which are set
out in the greenhouse very early in
the spring. In the latitude of Wash
ington, the seedlings are set out in
the lily ponds the first half of June.
Two months later they have COM
pleted their marathon growth and are
mature.
The Victoria Regia possesses no
commercial Importance. Nature
equipped the plant with so many
thorns and bristles-defenses against
tropical insects-that it is only with
the greatest difficulty and care that
the flowers can be handled and cut.
X X X
MRS. E. F. MEYER about six
1N1 years ago hit upon the scheme of
renting out her automobile livery style
when she was not personally using the
machine. This was the small begin
ming of an interesting business, which
consisted of thirty-five fine closed and
touring cars, operated by liveried
chauffeurs. Mrs. Myer, from the
very outset, followed the rule of hir-
ing none but the most reliable and
experienced drivers. Thereafter. she
kept strict tab on their official per-
formances. She made a speciality of
rendering superior service to her pa
irons. Her trade has been of the
best. Such notables as Arthur Bal
four and Marshal Foch rented cars by
the month from Mrs. Meyer during
their various sojourns in Washing
ton.
Mrs. Meyer capitalized word of
mouth publicity as her premier ad-
vertising asset One customer was
pleased and would tell another. The
second would tell a third. Thus In
tie course of six years this lady
Limousine owner built up one of the
most profitable and best taxicab serv-
ices in all Washington. She had a
practical monopoly of the foreign en-
bassy and diplomatic trade here.
Many of the embassies hired cars
regularly from Mrs. Meyer by the
season.
Ill health was the cause of Mrs.
Meyers first utilizing an automobile
in order to get out in the air regu-
larly. Ill health also was the cause
of her selling this remarkable busi-
ness, latterly, after she had accumu-
lated a comfortable fortune from an
efficient transportation project - the
like of which was never previously
fostered and developed by woman
In the District of Columbia.
X
nD you ever hear of Washington's
~ leading bird doctor, Mrs Weber,
who knows more about the care
and management of canary and
other ornamental birds than any one
else in the National Capital?
If not, and you wish to learn the
popular opinion regarding this self
tutored canary m. d. just ask any
of your friends who live in the north
west section of the city and who
happen to own canaries. They will
tell you all about Mrs. Weber, the
lady who has been raising canary
birds for thirty-six years and who
has reared and trained more than
5000 of the CHEEKY little songsters
during that period. There.is steady