Iron Deficiency

WILLOW'S MAGPIE No. 27

Mrs. Babcock’s hydrangeas had all turned pink

In despair and fury she wept;

For several nights she didn’t sleep a wink

No iron her gardener kept.

Her much preferred hue

For hydrangeas was blue,

Whatever was she to do?

And then she saw them, at the back of the shed,

Some rusty pipes, quite flaky and red;

She scraped off the rust,

Collected the dust,

Which round the plants she spread.

Her hydrangeas all flourished,

With iron flakes nourished,

I will not be flouted, she said.