The Charm Of The Poppies

Very ancient is the history of the poppy. It was wreathed with the lotus in Egyptand twiued with thymeand parstoy tn Greece: It was also one of the flowers dedicated to Yenus, and the witches who wronght their spells and mnttered their incantations on the ttnnntain tops cast into their brëw the borned leavos. It was early recognized that the poppy in its simplest form is one of the most decorative of flowers. lts simplest form is, of course, the wild flower of fonr petals. It is treated decoratively in a number of ways, either as a flat design of the lifted cup or as a conventional representation of the four petals enoircling the receptacle or as the stem npholding the domelike and sometimes strongly ridged seed pod ; but, after all, the most marvelous artistic suggestions are found in the sharply outlined leaves which rise to sleuder Gothic points. These serve as models of leaf design and ■were carved boldly and delioately in the Btone of ancient cathedrals. There is al ways something artificial in the appearance of the cultivated pop-pies. They lack the stability or reality and ever snggest the gypsy masquerading as the princess. Poppies, with very few exceptions, are not in the least difficult to grow. Seed sown in the fall or spring will produce plants that flower all summer. They do not demand an enriched soil and profuse watering, but grow in an independent, careless fashion that is a relief after an experience of the