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Show IMMENSE SUNFLOWERS, Where the Great American Bloom Thrives. IT ALSO HiS 1 PATRIOTIC PEDIGREE. One That Measured Twelve Inches in' ; Diameter. If the (piestiMii of the selection of a national na-tional (lower should be left to the di-ei sioii ot the residents in this part ot ihe delight ful Keuka lako region it would be Bet tied iu favor of the sunllower. The lirst settler on lands within the village boundaries of I lamuioudsorV was L'apt. John Sheulhar I lo purchased his homestead iu IT'.Hi direct from ihe agent ol Sir William I'lilteuey, who owned the most ol Steuben county ('apt. Sheatbar, his biographer says, was a Revolutionary soldier He held a commission com-mission as captain ot dragoons, and had the reputation of being ;ui excellent olli cer and a favorite with (ieti Washing lion. He lived on the head of Crooked (Keuka) lake, and fared sumptuously He was a generous, hospitable man and a true patriot. He was of a sioiit. portly port-ly ligiue. and made a line appcaianco on horseback dressed in his Continental regimentals, as he used to appear on all celebration occasions. Capt. Sheathar came from Virginia, and he brought with him into the Keukn lake wilderness a number of sunflower seeds which he planted iu the grounds. It issnid that ho frequently declared that Washington's favorite (lower was ihe suuilower. and it is a tradition that tho seeds (.'apt. Sheathar planted here came from a (lower that grow on the estate of the fattier of his country. The suullow-lersthal suullow-lersthal grew from the needs of Keukn Lake's pioneer settler were probably the I first that bloomed in western New York I Today, nil through this region of luscious lus-cious fruits and brilliant blooms, scions of that illustrious stock hold a proud plnce. They brighten every garden, and beam from their lofty and sturdy stalks on many a velvety lawn. 1 Hey hurst iu glory from amid the green acre- ; age of trailing grape vines, high on the slopes that guard the shores of Keuka 1 lake, and close to the foliage fringed ; borders of the lako itself they how their j stalely, gold crowned heads to the aa- : luting breeze. Summer cottages along the hike, set back against the hills among ' i old oaks and pines and elms, find (hern- i I selves, as the season grows, almost hid- j I den by the broad leafed growth of this great (lower stalk, and the cottagers walk with a sunburst at every turn. The t flowers lift up their glowing faces against the gable windows, nnd even nnd at one another across the housetops. It is the pride of the Keuka lakeciti-i zi'ii to have it recorded in his local print 1 that he has placed tqion the editor's table j the largest and brightest sunflower of, the season, or that he has the highest! sunflower stalk or one witli the most. Qowers on.it. Thus The Haminondsport j Herald of this week announces that j Nicholas Augur has shown to the editor ! a sunllower that grew in his yard, and j that it measured twelve incheaaeross in- ; -iide its fringe of golden leaves. It had . seeds enough to plant a five acre lot. A ' paper in another town says that a sunflower sun-flower stalk twenty feet high and hav- ! dig seventy-five immense flowers on it is a sight lobe seen in Jatnes Se bring' a dooryard. and that it is worth going twenty miles lo see. Keuka lake wants to be put on record as being for the sunflower for the national na-tional flower first, last, and all the time. Mammon dsport Cor. New York Sun. |