Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-21

flower seeds may he purCha sed. when
will develop into hundreds of heautltut
blossoms Viewed as just SO much
material, decorative material, there is
nothing in the world that expa nds as
much as a flower seed. This is why
the seed business is good one
1t is necessary, however. to look
upon flowers from the mental ana
spiritual Standpoints. in order to Sc
cure their real benefits.
Seedmen Of the best sort regard
their annual offerings in just this
way We have before us the new
catalogue OF prominent gladiolus
grower and originator. He was
Kicked out" of his church because he
had dared to interfere. so the board
said with the work of the Crea tor. His
crime" lay in taking small despised
South African bloom, and, together
with other men. transforming it into
one of the most glorious of all flowers
In creating. he was working with the
Creator, not against Him.
Upon reading his catalogue for the
first time a new reader might be for
given for thinking the man was bit
conceited. but this feeling would van
ish entirely after he had purchased
some of the. bulbs and had lowered
them in his own garden.
This originator makes his living out
of the "glads''-but he makes more
than just bread and butter He
makes a life work. he makes his oc-
cupation, his hobby, his first love and
his last There Is here. as well as
money, intense pride. love and re
gard for all beautiful things.
1t is in exactly this spirit that
every one must approach gardening,
if it is to become a real force in his
life, and not just something to be
done because 1t is customary, beca use
it is the usual thing" because every
body else is doing 1t.
1t scarcely need be added that this
is not to be A conscious attitude to-
ward gardening.
One cannot, by taking thought. put
himself into the proper attitude for
such an occupation. The market
gardener. although he grows the fin-
est vegetables in the world, does not
say to himself, before he goes to
work, Now l am about to comply
with the requirements as set forth
in This and That" Well. hardly.
And yet this same man, be he white
or colored, will embody In his work
the very same attitude which we have
attempted to define. Proper seed beds,
with the soil finely prepared, Will
amount almost to a religion with him.
Through working with the soil he
has come to know what conditions
must be complied with, and he COM
plies with them, and he reaps the
harvest. II he comes into the city
and leans over your back fence when
you are mulching the gladiolus beds,
he. will instinctively appreciate your
labor and regard you as brother
If chance has made him a colored
man of all works, and he is sowing
grass seed in the next yard, and the
mistress of the house orders him to
SOW the seed where it will not grow,
he will comply because he has to,
but not without an understa nding
grimace in your direction.
knowledge. then, is the sure way
to comply with requirements. for
with knowledge comes understanding.
One of the first steps in flower
knowledge Is study of the annual
seed catalogues. Surely they are books
containing much more than just glow
ing pictures of tomatoes and the prices
of seed per packet or ounce. The
ideas they plant in us are the seed
of fireside gardening, which shall bios
som gloriously later on.