Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

Text from Pages 1 - 20 of the 1921 volume:

J. M. KIRK Sanitary Plumbing Gas and Steam Heating Pumping Machinery of all kinds. Windmills, Gas Engines, Etc. Office: 304 Butler Avenue Both Phones Ambler, Pa. Good Printing That’s All Johnson The Printer Truman Baking Co. Opualttg lakrrs Free Delivery Bell Phones, 471 and 350J AMBLER, PENNA. Bell Phone 79W Keystone 100D Ambler Market Company 229 Butler Avenue Meats, Fruit and Vegetables In Season Fish and Oysters in Season AMBLER, PA Heath, Pennick Heath SMILES TAXI Ambler, Penna. Come to the lovers of nature when springtime resumes its verdure Bell Phone 465W Keystone 99 SUCCESS Comes to those who plan their earnings wisely w9p The First National Bank of Ambler, Pa. t 'v Patronize j the Wise-Acres Advertisers The School of Horticulture for Women AMBLER, PENNSYLVANIA ELIZABETH LEIGHTON LEE, Director DIPLOMA COURSE OF TWO YEARS Entrance in January and September. Floriculture Fruit Growing Vegetable Gardening Botany Woody Ornamental Plants Rural Economy Soils and Fertilizers Landscape Gardening (elementary) Zoology, Economic Carpentry The Farm Woodland Business Methods ELECTIVES Poultry, Bees, Canning and Preserving, School Gardening, Care of Animals. Practical work out of doors and in the greenhouse forms a large part of th curriculum FEES: Tuition per year of 40 weeks $200.00 Board single room 40 weeks 475.00 Board double room 40 weeks 450.00 SUMMER COURSE-4 WEEKS AUGUST Floriculture Fruit Growing Vegetable Gardening Canning Preserving FEES: Tuition for the course, $25.00. Day Students, one subject, 3 hours per week, $5.00. Registration fee $2.00. Board and lodging $ 12 to $ 14 per week. Luncheon may be obtained at the School for 50 cent . Tea. coffee or milk ten cents. Trainsleave Reading Terminal 8.15 A. M., 12.02 P. M. Returning leave Ambler 1.11 P. M., 4.52 P. M. Transportation to and from tho station free of charge. FOR SALE—Fresh fruits, eggs, poultry, flowers and plants, jams, jellies, fruit juices. WISE-ACRES Vol. VI November, 1921 No. 24 Published Quarterly by the Students ofthe School of Horticulture for Women, Ambler, Pa.—Elizabeth Leighton Lee, Director Entered at Ambler P. O. as Second-Class Matter Under Act of March 3, 1879. STAFF Editor-In-Chief, Eleanor F. Fullerton. Asst. Editor, Elinor Mathews Acting Adv. Mgr., Elizabeth Swing Business Manager, Edith Diehl One Dollar a Year Single Copy, Twenty-five Cents EDITORIAL JOTTINGS We are sorry to hear that Miss Nicolson, our instructor in Floriculture and Vegetable Gardening, is leaving at the end of the year. Miss Nicolson has presided over the greenhouses and gardens for three years, and she has sent out a group of well-trained, enthusiastic students. She has done more than teach the theory of growing, more than train hands. She has preached the gospel of love and understanding, and the vital necessity for a deep-seated enthusiasm if your work is going to amount to the most. We have reprinted in this issue a brief article by Miss Edna M. Gunnell, who was a former greenhouse instructor at the School. We were interested to learn, through the Journal of the English Farm and Garden Association, that Miss Gunnell had been appointed Horticultural Superintendent to the County of Devon. It sounds like a pretty important post, and we are glad Miss Gunnell is the first woman to fill it. Ula Fay has found a mighty interesting job. She is1 an Occupational Aide at the U. S. Public Health Service Hospital No. 35, in St. Louis. She expected to have floricultural work when she went there, but discovered very little equipment. So far, her activities have been confined to the filling of window boxes, making of hanging baskets and planning enthusiastically for the greenhouse which she hopes to have soon. IN THE SCHOOL GREENHOUSES By One of the Students “In all places, then, and in all seasons, Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, How akin they are to human things.” It is most natural for us to think of flowers as belonging only to the out-of-doors. Hot houses and greenhouses seem on first thought an unnatural state, but when we study the life history of plants, we find that in manv, many ways their little needs are similar to our own. By sheltering them from the rough elements, and by giving each plant only the food and conditions which make for its best development, we are only aiding Nature in her struggle to produce perfection. When managed carefully and intelligently “The Garden Under Glass” can be made a bit of Paradise, wherein many thousands of little lives cnme forth in wonderful beauty, almost startling us by their quick response to kindness and care. When our class entered the School in February of last year, the greenhouses were in the midst of their winter glory. How well we remember those wonderful beds of antirrhinums! We didn’t know they could be so beautiful. And the sweet pea bed—a gorgeous mass of blending colors, the stalks so tall and strong, that later when we opened the ventilator permanently they grew right through. From a little distance it looked as though the greenhouse was so joyous with vegetation that it had simply burst. Then there were the sweet-scented carnations, and the white and rosy cyclamens, and so many other flowers with names at first hard to remember, but with colors and scents that could never be forgotten. How the Greenhouses Are Arranged The greenhouses are divided into six sections. Two cool houses, an intermediate house, a propagating house, a fernery, and a potting shed. The temperature of the cool houses is that of the out-of-doors on a comfortable summer day, while the intermediate house is slightly warmer. The propagating house is somewhat oppressive to us, but the little cuttings and the germinating seeds think it is just about right. The fernery has a whiff of the deep woods, and the potting shed is always comfortable. In the first cool house are the individual vegetable gardens, each student being allotted a small plot to plant and care for during the fall, winter and spring. In these gardens we usuallv grow tomatoes, cauliflower and parsley, all of which thrive well under glass. Along one side of the house are the geraniums—a mass of bloom in all seasons of the year. In this house also we force the calla lilies for Easter time, and the rhubarb for the late winter. Still another feature of this house is our much-prized fig tree, actually bearing fruit. In the second cool house we grow the carnations, sweet peas, and various other plants which prefer a slightly cool temperature. The intermediate house always contains the greatest variety of flowers, because it is this temperature which most closely assimilates that of our summer time. Here we grow the antirrhinums, the primula.-,, the calendulas, the freesias, the stock, the begonias, the lupins, the petunias, and many other beauties which thrive and bloom all through the winter. In the very early spring this house is still further brightened by the narcissus, the tulips, and the hyacinths of Easter time. Here also is the home of a very thrifty oleander. The propagating house, as its name implies, is where our seeds germinate and our little cuttings take root. For this latter purpose there is a row of propagating benches, filled with sand and supplied with bottom heat. Here also we grow our finest tomatoes. On a trellis over one of the doorways leading into this house is a very lovely allamanda, whose golden trumpet flowers burst forth every now and then, firmly believing that they are in their native home in the tropics. The fernery, in addition to containing ferns and palms, and some enormous rubber plants, is also the home of our lilies, our winter roses, and a number of thrifty and fragrant heliotropes. Here also we force larkspur, columbine, foxgloves, iris, and other perennials with remarkable success. On one side is a fern wall where we have planted maidenhair ferns, lobelia, and various other delicate hanging plants. When it becomes a mass of green, and the tiny blue lobelia flowers peep out here and there, it is a very pretty sight indeed. Happy Winter Days Now for the potting shed on a working day; a cold snowy winter day when, mingled with our happy, busy chatter, there is a sense of awe that we should be gardening when all the outside world is cold and dormant. On one side of the potting shed is a long, wide bench with box-like openings below containing various kinds of soil—loam, sand, leaf mold, etc. Each student has a locker with all necessary implements. It is here that we sow the seeds in flats, prick then , out later into second flats, then to thumb pots, and later into larger and larger pots till the plant has reached blooming and maturity. Of course, this is not all. There are many other tasks for our happy winter days. The little plants must be fed to encourage the'r rapid growth and timely blooming. Every day we must give water wherever it is needed, and the plants are cultivated constantly to conserve the moisture, aireate the soil, and keep down the weeds and disease. Greenhouse pests, the aphis, the red spider, the mealy bug, etc., must be watched for and immediately discouraged with sprays. And so the days'fly by and before we are aware of it we are Getting Ready for Outdoor Planting Here we come to another feature of the usefulness of the greenhouse. A number of our cool season vegetables, such as head lettuce, early cabbage, and early cauliflower, could not be brought to maturity before the excessive heat of summer if it were not for the fact that the seeds are started under glass so that the little plants are ready to set out as soon as the frost is out of the ground. Also, some of our warm season vegetables: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, sweet potatoes, etc., could not mature in our short season if they were not started in the greenhouse and transplanted. The Scime is true ol many of our prettiest summer flowers. In addition to the greenhouses, the School is equipped with a number of cold frames. These are used extensively in preparing fo:‘ outdoor planting, and several of the frames are used as permanent beds for violets. The Greenhouses in Summer Possibly you think this is their resting season. But no indeed! They are useful the year around. There are many plants which require shading and special care during their early life and this can be done to best advantage in the greenhouse. There are also many plants which thrive best by being kept in the greenhouse all the year round, where it is possible to keep! them at an even temperature and give them a constant supply of moisture. Preparing for Winter It :s customary to fumigate the houses thoroughly before the winter planting begins. This rids the houses of pests and disease germs. Also, there is a regular housecleaning and repainting—all for the purpose of disease prevention as well as for appearance. The soil is removed and fresh, well composed soil put in. Sowing, potting, repotting, and transplanting re-commence in earnest. The greenhouses are a wonderful educational feature. Aside from the fact that they shelter and encourage our plants, they serve as a constant lesson in concentration, and we find that it is remarkable what Can be accomplished in a small space. Moreover, they are intermingled with all our other horticultural work. They aid us materially in our studies of Botany and Entomology, and the potting shed serves as a laboratory for our experiments in the study of Chemistry and Soils. A Final Glimpse Our small vegetable gardens are planted with vigorously growing tomatoes and cauliflower. A row of sweet peas has been started in front of each plot. The geraniums have been pruned and are a blaze of color and the fig tree is fruiting. The intermediate house is promising a glory of color and sweet scent later in the season. There is a row of Japanese chrysanthemums just bursting into bloom in the smaller cool house, and the asparagus ferns are flourishing. We have no need to look forward to a rather dull winter of constant book study. We have our greenhouses. Truly, they are ours, for we do practically all the work in them, under constant expert guidance. We have truly discovered that greenhouses are profitable. To body, mind, ahd soul their benefits are far-reaching, and, when carefully and intelligently managed, they may be profitable to the purse as well. THE COMMERCIAL GREENHOUSE By Helen N. Kille, ’23 and E. F. F. The work in an educational greenhouse is taken day by day; in a private greenhouse it is month by month; but in a commercial greenhouse it is a matter of year by year, or, more truly, life by life. In a school greenhouse the work is experimental for each student . It is a new field for her and .she is intent on learning as much as possible in her given time. All the old theories that have been tried many times before she must try for herself, and prove again. Every new theory that presents itself is a new adventure for her. She longs to try it out and reduce it to practical use, or to discard it as impractical. If she goes from school into a private greenhouse her outlook on the subject is only slightly changed. Here again the making of money is not the prime object. The school-inspired experiments can still be carried on—perhaps under more advantageous conditions. But go into the commercial world and you will find a very different situation. There the success of a crop means profit and bigger business, while a failure means another start and the same long-drawn-out task over again. It is a real job there, and requires the very best you have to give; from head, hands, and heart. You have your planning to handle first. In the florist’s business this must be done a long way ahead, for a greenhouse crop can’t be brought in at the last minute. It takes a full season to carry a chrysanthemum cutting to maturity and blooming, and it takes three years to get a blossoming plant from a genista cutting. Moreover, you must get your crops in on time. You don’t want your Easter lilies con ing into bloom in May, or your chrysanthemums just showing color in October. That means: know your plants, and calculate well before you do your planting. In business we naturally raise only money-making plants, and we strive for the best results from-the smallest outlay of money. We have to. When you sit down to do your planning decide carefully what you want, and then stick to it. You can waste more time and money and valuable brain energy in changing your mind than you can in any other way. Incidentally, you are wasting the time of someone else, and that never pays. Don’t forget that there is more than planning and growing to be :lone. The selling end is an important thing. You may be able to raise your crops successfully, but if you can’t sell them you might as well shut up the greenhouses and go to work in the nearest store. Crops must be marketed quickly and advantageously. That demands judgment and ingenuity in advertising, special sales, etc. You will be surprised how a clever advertising campaign will encourage a slack business. It is a pretty generally conceded fact that some people are born managers, and some are not. If you are going to succeed in the florist’s business you will have to develop to their fullest extent any managerial qualities you possess. Systematize your place till your work is clone in the quickest and most efficient manner possible; and don’t overlook your bookkeeping. That is a matter that requires a remarkably large part of your time at the best, but a well systematized office leaves you much more time for the ever-pressing work in the greenhouses. And work it really is. You can’t shirk, and you can’t let slack work pass. The nrr'fits will tell the tale every time. Your enthusiastic visitors are sure to envy you your “fascinating work under such charming conditions,” but don’t let that stimulate your imagination too much now! There is a deal of routine work that must be attended to and there is a deal of slow, tedious work that is as important as any other part. And for you, Madam Manager, there is still a bigger task. You must know the work of your greenhouses so well that you can step in and fill any place that needs you. To be ready in such a case means that you must constantly be in touch with your employees, and know how the work is progressing. If you can leave your own job long enough to set some bungling worker right and return to your own task without having “lost your place,” you will have proved your efficiency. It is the way you carry this ever-present responsibility that marks you as a good or a poor manager. But don’t make yourself a slave to your business. Learn to relax now and then, and when you find yourself getting too deeply engrossed in our work take a day off. Don't lose your outside interests, and don’t, above all things, lose your sense of humor. A good laugh in the middle of a hectically busy day will give life a simpler ispect and will freshen your whole brain for the next task. After all you will find it very simple. You need only to be, to the best of your ability, a clear thinker, an efficient manager, a steady worker, and a whole-souled player to make it pay. CONSERVATION OF COAL IN GREENHOUSES By Edna M. Gunnell Just four simple rules to be followed: j. Low temperatures in the houses to the great improvement ip color or scent and health of plants. 2. Low fires on mild days and nights irrespective of the month these happen to occur. This is always a safe saver. 3. Keeping low fires in the morning even after cold nights when anticipating sunny days. 4. Early closing of the ventilators to retain the sun’s heat when anticipating cold nights. Briefly then, in stoking, use the natural heat of the sun, and thy intelligence. Re-print from Wise-Acres, March, 1918. THE DELICIOUS MONSTER By George B. Kaiser No. it is not an animal, but the fruit of Monstera Deliciosa, a plant of the Arum family, that climbs the trunks of palms in tropical America and, with its aerial roots often adds to the impenetrability of the jungle. “Most delicious,” said a noted botanist in commenting upon the flavor of this delectable morsel. “It combines the lusciousness of ripe bananas, pineapples, and the juiciest of strawberries.” And his eyes turned heavenward, no doubt recalling how this ambrosial fruit had tasted to him. Is it a wonder that our mouths thereafter watered and that, over a year ago. when a gentleman at Horticultural Hall, in Fairmount Park, promised us a ripened “monster” our epicurean spirit rose high in expectation? Recently at a meeting of the Germantown Horticultural Society a fruit of Monstera was exhibited reposing upon one of its great perforated leaves. It had been brought to luscious maturity by the care of I. Newton Kulp, gardener to the Misses Mason, of School Lane, after several years of fruitless endeavor to accomplish this feat of greenhouse culture. It looked like a fat, rough, green cucumber about ten inches in length, except at the end, where the hexagonal green plates had fallen away, exposing the pale yellowish soft interior, which exhaled a tempting fragrance of ripe pineapple. It was generously presented to the School of Horticulture by Mr. Kulp. who soon departed, with a sly smile warning the grateful Enthusiast that it would be in his charge from that instant. This was no sinecure. Children greedily• eyed the prospective treat, the while sniffing the odorous emanations from it. Grownups, too, were not without covetous glances, and that gentleman from Horticultural Hall, himself, whose fruit had probably not ripened, had the unwarranted temerity to actually treat one of his friends to a portion of the araceous treasure! Toward the end of the evening a member of the Society even dared to make off with the “monster” under guise of protecting it for the Enthusiast. That settled it! The tasty fruit was hastily wrapped in tissue paper by its new guardian and by him borne away with the great leaf, a yard long, trailing after, to the amusement of the audience and later to the edification ol trolley riders. Next morning the adventures of Monstera were continued on the way to Ambler. When the convoy at last reached the School safely all were soon conquered and convinced that no praise could be too high in describing the gastronomic delights experienced in partak'ng of this unusual fare, 'file Enthusiast, who served the fruit, found it altogether proper to taste a little himself each time he served a participant in the feast, and each time he only the better understood that celestial trend in the eyes of the learned Professor who had at first enlightened him concerning the charms of the delicious Monstera. WOMAN’S PLACE IN THE FLOWER SHOP By Eunice S. Williams From the first there was no question in my mind as to whether the Flower Shop provided a place for a woman. But I early discovered that in the “profession” there are varying ideas. It has always neen my joy to visit a florist whenever possible. Usually , in chatting, I ask his opinion as to whether a girl would fit in his line ol work. If you are a visitor, and not a job-seeker, he most often agrees that parts of the work would suit a woman excellently, but he seems vaguely doubtful about other parts. When I went to one of the best-known florists in our city and actually asked for a job, he told me frankly that he did not like to employ women in his shop. I le admitted that they are clever with their fingers, and rapid workers. But. he argued, they cannot stand the rush of work that a man can. they cannot work long hours overtime, nor handle big jobs. He preferred to employ men. Me tried to persuade me that I could never run a shop of my own because of the great risks it involves! 1 enjoyed hearing his viewpoint, but within another hour 1 had landed a job with an equally important and well-known florist. To be successful in a Flower Shop you must possess qualities which do not seem particularly either masculine or feminine. You must be always pleasant, courteous and tactful—whether dealing with a customer or a fe.low worker. Your fingers must be quick so that you do not waste time in wiring endless blossoms or making up numberless bows. You must be full of original ideas so that each customer feels he is getting something just a bit different; resourceful enough to be able to substitute just the right thing when plans do not work out as expected. Physical endurance would be the place where some women might fall short. At holidays and sometimes on ordinary days it is necessary to work long hours. Lunch time comes when it can be fitted in—not at twelve sharp every day. If there is a big order which must be delivered at a certain hour—for weddings and funerals are not timed to suit florists—it is sometimes necessary to start work ai live A. M. At holiday seasons work just begins when the shop closes, because everything must be put in order for the next rush and all of tomorrow’s orders prepared for early delivery. Sleep becomes a much-to-be desired stranger. It is necessary to be strictly business-like in everything concerned with the shop: Business-like with the customer, your fellow-worker, or fellow-florists. If you are merely human everyone remembers that after all you are only a woman and not up to the same things as men. 1 speak from the standpoint of one who has worked in this business only with men. Perhaps if the fellow-workers were women, conditions would be different Most men who are not used to working with women are yet to be convinced of what a woman can accomplish. However, you do not often stop to analyze all these points if you are interested in the work. If you love flowers—if it gives you joy to handle them—you do not spend much time in watching the clock or thinking about yourself. It is a pleasure to talk with even fussy cus- tomers and persuade them that they want what you have to gave them. Packing boxes of flowers gives you a chance to develop beautiful combinations—all the packer has to do is imagine her own delight on opening the package. It would be hard to decide whether it is of more interest to arrange a stunning basket or build a funeral piece which is natural and artistic, and certainly carries with it much comfort. Flowers for social occasions and weddings offer a chance for endless ideas and combinations, and are always fascinating. If there is nothing else to do you can almost always put in some time on the window and case displays. Don't you always just long to make some of those wonderful and simple-appearing window arrangements? You’d be surprised to find how much ingenuity the really good ones require. All of which goes to prove—to my mind—that a woman’s place in a Flower Shop is just the place she makes it. Here, as always, it’s up to the individual. SOMEDAY In the green house, where the sun shines; Where the morning sun shines brightly; Where the sun of noon beats hotly, And at night the sunset glimmers; There the propogating benches, Filled with sand, and bottom-heated Hold their rows of tender cuttings; Slips from daisy plants, and ivy; Pale begonias, and bright pansies; Fragrant heliotrope, and roses: And two little rows of boxwood— Small and green, and bravely trying To reach up and meet the sunshine; To push out wee roots for water. Growing strong, and ever larger. Some day they will be old bushes, Ancient boxwoods, green and fragrant— In a garden on a hilltop. In a garden filled with roses; Filled with mignonette and lillies; Set within a grove of locusts, Tall and lacy, slender locusts— ITEMS OF INTEREST FOR THE WOULD-BE FLORIST Bv Eleanor F. Fullerton I spent a very interesting morning one clay this fall in the green houses of a successful Long Island florist. I had had some previous acquaintance with the florist, and with his establishment so my interest was more than that of the casual visitor. Moreover, the florist was moved to talk to me as the Wise Men of old talked to the youthful and enthusiastic seekers after knowledge.He considered no question of mine irrelevant, or too trivial for consideration, but he gave me from his store of knowledge and life-long experience, the very bits of information that I, a would-be florist, had been groping for this past year. 1 had found my bearings in the theoretical field. I felt that I knew the fundamental principles of green house culture; and I knew I could carry through to maturity a crop of antirrhinums, or sweet peas, or tomatoes. But. the actual management of a commercial plant, including all the planning, handling of labor, and marketing of crops, was a vast and unplumbed mystery to me. Therefore, I absorbed the words of the florist with an ever-increasing thirst for more. I know there are others situated as 1 am, and I feel that the bits of wisdom that meant so much to me will mean as much to them. I therefore set them down; not as a treatise on the establishment of a green house; or even as the report of an “interview.” They are just odd items of information that may or may not help out; at least they are worthy of consideration. 1 asked how small a house could be made profitable and the florist said that he would not advise one smaller than 100 by 25 feet, unless part of the business was to be carried on by means of cold frames. One woman could handle a house of this size easily, and with well planned cropping, a profit could be made the first year. Nevertheless, he advised me to keep in mind the fact that the plant will not always remain that size. When putting up the first house, plan for your future enlargement. The manufacturing company will help you plan location, furnace pit, and all other assets so the next house can be put up with the least amount of work, extra equipment, and wasted space. If a hillside is available, and other qualifications are equal, the terroce system is good. The first house and heating plant can be erected near the bottom, and later other houses erected higher up on the slope. This utilizes the smallest space, assures no shading of one house by another, and simplifies the heating, as the steam is forced up into the houses, and when condensed runs back by the force of gravity. He recommended running the house east and west or northeast by southwest. I had heard many controversies on this subject, and I asked for his theory. He said that for flowering plants it was more important to have all the sun available than to have it distributed on all sides. The shape of the plant is of no importance, and there is no harm done if it all grows in one direction. Also, there is less shade cast by the sash bars and braces if the house is run this way. The Florist had not done a great deal with frames himself, but he knew there were great possibilities in them for the beginner. Violets, of course, can be raised very successfully in them. An early spring crop can be raised and a good profit made. Chrysanthemums—or “’mums”—are also a good frame crop. The sash can be raised to allow room for the height of the plant and crops can be easily managed. We talked long and comprehensively on the subject of crops. He strongly recommended early gladiolas for a beginner. They can be started in the green house in flats in late April and then set out in May as soon as frost danger is past. These will bloom in June and command a very good price. Other outdoor summer crops he considered rather a gamble, depending on the season and, in the case of asters, on the beetles. Snapdragons he considered a very good crop. The giants are the only ones that pay well, unless you are growing them for your own local retail trade. Sweet peas are very successful and are good to follow ’mums. Freesias he reckons among his good crops. They are a long season crop, but they do not take up an enormous amount of room, and they have a cutting season of a month or more. Bulbs he recommended highly. The paper white narcissus can be brought into bloom in a very short time and are easily handled. They have the advantage of being able to stand a change of temperature in case it is desirable to hold them back and bring them into bloom later. The Chinese lily is in this same class. The Easter trade, of course, demands all types of bulbs, including narcissus, tulips, hyacinths and daffodils. The baby primulas, or Primula malacoides, is a very worth while crop, blooming during the entire winter. The profit from them is not great, but is reasonably sure. I was greatly interested in the raising of greens and asked how great a demand there was for them. The florist waxed enthusiastic at that, and my own enthusiasm rose in accord. Smilax he considers a very good crop. It brings a good price and the plants can be used for two or three years. Some growers start new plants each year, but this is not necessary. There is a drawback, however, for the beginner to consider. That is the heat, as smilax needs a higher temperature than that required by most flowering plants. It would be inadvisable to put in a whole house of smilax as a first crop so this would probably have to wait until the plant had warranted enlarging. As for asparagus ferns: he had quite a bed of asparagus plumosis and could market far more if he had room to put it in. It is a slow growing plant and cannot be cut too heavily, but if successive crops were managed a very good trade could be established. The sprengeri is not in such great demand. He therefore raises only enough for his local retail trade. He had one beautiful ground bed coming along. He said that he was going to put the regular bench over it and put in red carnations for the winter. The sprengeri, being well started, would keep on growing and yield a good crop, while the carnations above would be utilizing the sunlight that is such a valuable asset to the florist. I Out of the dark the strangest flock of sheep; Silent, and still, and gray; dim shapes they moved; Shepherdless, wandering, wavering things that roved In at the window, out at the door,. And never a sound of their pattering feet on the floor. Never a bleat did I hear, or a shepherd’s call, Never a single sound. Were they shadows all? Yet they were herded here, I believe, by a fay Just to be shorn, for up in my room today The gray wool, lay like dust all along the floor— Some shearings left from those shadow sheep, I am sure. You have a twinkle of keen, Scotch mirth In your eyes so clear and blue: And a loving smile, ’round a tender mouth, You are vibrant, strong and true. The birds in the snow, and the sunset sky Bring a reverent light to your face. The beauty in flowers, and music, and stars Has lent to you part of its grace. Your head and your hands never tire, it seems From work that your heart bids them do. Always you’re serving, with cheery grace, And never a thought of—you. M. E. C. A TRIBUTE J. W. CRAFT SONS ANBDPEA Ornamentals exclusively distinctive in quality and variety We cater to the mostdiscnm-imtingtrade. HEISS’S Dry Goods, Notions, Millinery Men’s Furnishings 303-305 Butler Ave. Ambler, Pn. Ambler, Pa. Manufacturers and Dealers in Scratch and Mash Feed Building Material Fencing Materials Lehigh Coal GoodDrugs—Results Good Wt Know Enough About DRUGS To Give You the Best Stillwagons Drug Store VICTOR MAYER MERCHANT TAILOR Steam Dyeing and Scouring Repairing Neatly Done AMBLER, PA. MENTION “WISE ACRES.” IT HELPS YOU AND HELPS US.