They Call lift
«The Luck Hail”
Frank Sliirlds slarleil raising four-leafeil
clovers four years
ацо
as (lie result of Idle
curiosity. Today lie lias norkod it into
quite a business and is receiving orders
from all over tlic* country.
THE luck nun!"
That’* what his colored friends
call Frank Shields of Salisbury;
and i he reason for this designation is
that Frank started raising four-leafed
clovers about four years ago and has
worked it up into quite a business.
His first experiments grew out of
curiosity. Stretched out on the grass
one balmy spring day. he idly began
seeking a clover-leaf with four petals
and was interested in noting how-
hard they were to find.
After searching for some time, he
found a few and picked them with
the bloom which accompanied each
rooting. Then he allowed the blooms
to seed, which they did in August. In
October of that same year he planted
the seed in the yard of the Zenith
Chemical Company, where he works,
and awaited the results of his experi¬
ment.
Along about the middle of April,
the clover came up and, sure enough,
many of them had four petals, lie
carefully selected these and again
teeded and plauted them. This he has
done for four years ami last spring
fully half of the stems had four petals
«Ш
them.
A Steady Increase
Frank say* that he doesn't know
anything about botany, but he has
noticed that each year the proportion
of four-leafed clovers has increased,
and he hopes some day to produce a
seed that will produce this variety
one hundred |*or cent.
The four-leafed clover, it should he
remembered, is a deformed plant and
is much more delicate than the normal
leaf. While the latter will live three
or four day* after having been pulled,
the four-leafed variety will wither
in about twenty-four hours. However,
both will keep about a week when
packed in damp moss.
Frank started his experiment with
small clover, but for the past two
years he also has been experimenting
with the larger variety, or "red” clov¬
er, and be finds that both kinds con¬
form to about the same rules. He can
now supply about a thousand of each
u week.
And so, what started out as an idlo
By \x. i:. iiiwfssfi:
experiment is now being worked up
into a small business. Not long ago an
inquiry came from a novelty house for
quotations by the thousand. A couple
of weeks ago an insurance company in
New York ordered :(.'•<>; one for each
of its agents, Frank expects order,
to increase as more people learn of
his specialty.
Then, too, he gets a lot of fun out
of his hobby. Last year “Lubber"
Linn, mascot of the Carolina football
team, got twenty clovers from Frank
and presented one to each player just
before the team went to play in New
Orleans. Carolina won, and Frank
rhulked up another score for bis
clover. He now sends bis tulismen to
any team in which he is especially in¬
terested. Not only that, but he has
sent many leaves to politicians, and
lie has in bis possession several letters,
telling of political victories that have
been won and attributing success to
the clover*.
In connection with football games,
there was one time that Frank missed
out : that was when the University of
Tennessee played Southern Califor¬
nia. Frank thinks that Howard Jones
must have got his tokens and gave
them to the Trojans, because Ten¬
nessee never did acknowledge receipt
of them.
Last summer Frank went to New
York and he took a quantity of clover
with him. He gave a houtonuier to
(•rover Whalen and, for the day, it
replaced the famous Whalen carnation
W ZIKY PLANNiNG
YOU
П
VACATION
don't foil to hove your STATE
transferred. No matter where you
go, you'll need this weekly visitor
to "Keep Up" with What's Going
On in North Carolina. A card
or letter will assure you of no
interruption in service.
or gardenia. Whalen Inter wrote Frank
a letter of thanks and said that the
attendance nt the Fair had greatly in¬
creased that day. Thu North Caro¬
lina exhibit also gave one of the clov¬
ers to each visitor a> long as they
lasted.
One evening, while in New York.
Frank went into a cafe for some beer
and sandwiches. When he pulled out
his purse to pay hi* check one of the
clovers fell out on the bar. The bar¬
man noticed it and made inquiry.
When he learned that Frank bad a
whole box-full with him. be called
the manager and all the waitresses, and
each of the girls «a* presented with
one of the four-leafed clovers to wear
on her uniform. Frank was told that
he could order anything he wanted
and it would be “on the house.”
Another good market for his wares
is among the colored employees of
the Zenith Fertilizer Company, as
well as among other Negroes in and
around Salisbury. Whenever Lady
Luck ha* been turning her back upon
them, they invariably hunt up Frank
and buy a few of hi* clovers. Fre¬
quently they have come back and have
told him that their luck has taken a
decided change for the better.
First Class Testimonials
"I had been losing regularly,” one
man told him recently, “and somehow
or other 1 couldn’t make them dice
smile at me. Last night I got into a
game. I pulled out six of your clover*
and laid them down on the floor in
front of
ши.
Then I made six
раме*
in a row. Laws-a-mussy : 1 wish 1 had
bought a dozen of them clovers, in¬
stead of just six!”
Still another illustration: A certain
citizen of Salisbury was expecting an
addition to his family. He wanted a
son. lie called upon Frank and ob¬
tained some of his clover, which he
placed in his pocket book and carried
with him constantly.
When the baby was bora, it was a
fine eight-pound boy.
Of course you may smile at all of
this and loftily claim that there’#
nothing to it, but Frank doesn’t care
— he'll smile along with you.
21
