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LUTHER BURBANK

HIS METHODS AND DISCOVERIES AND
THEIR PRACTICAL APPLICATION

PREPARED FROM
HIS ORIGINAL FIELD NOTES

COVERING MORE THAN 100,000 EXPERIMENTS

MADE DURING FORTY YEARS DEVOTED

TO PLANT IMPROVEMENT

WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF

The Luther Burbank Society

AND ITS
ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP

UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION OF

John Whitson and Robert John

AND

Henry Smith Williams, M. D., LL. D,

VOLUME IX

ILLUSTRATED WITH

105 DIRECT COLOR PHOTOGRAPH PRINTS PRODUCED BY A

NEW PROCESS DEVISED AND PERFECTED FOR

USE IN THESE VOLUMES

NEW YORK AND LONDON

LUTHER BURBANK PRESS

MCMXIV

The Luther Burbank Society

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
All rightt re*erred

Volume IX— By Chapters

Foreword Page 3

I What to Work for

in Flowers

— And How to

Proceed

II Working With a Universal
Flower— The Rose

— How the Burbank and Other Roses

Were Produced.

Ill Accomplishing the Impossible
With the Amaryllis

—Wonderful New Blossems Nearly n-,

a Foot in Width /I

IV Bringing Forth an Entirely
New Color

— And Other Important Work i /\O

With the Poppies 1UO

V A Daisy Which Rivals
the Chrysanthemum

— And Other Improvements 1 o r

in Daisies JLOO

VI Making the Gladiolus
Surpass Itself

— Teaching the Plant -\ C.1

New Habite 10 /

YJJ Experimenting With the
Responsive Dahlia

— An Infinity of Variation Which r» /\ o

Has Only Been Tapped ............................... 206

VIII Tne Canna and
the Calla

—And Some Interesting Work
With Striking Results

IX The Purest White
in Nature

—Striking Color Changes in o sr\

the Watsonia ...... . ................................. 269

List of Direct Color Photograph Prints ...... ... 305

349364

FOREWORD TO VOLUME IX

Of all the hours Mr. Burbank has put in among
his plants, the best, to him, are those spent with
his flowers.

Here, in this volume, we see not only his flower
masterpieces and a clear portrayal of the methods
used in their production — but a close view portrait
of Luther Burbank, the man.

We see him in the very act of increasing the
size, changing the scent, remodeling the shape,
bringing forth a new color — we see him trans-
forming weeds into glorious flowers — always doing
what others have said was impossible.

Coupled with the definite method explanation,
there is ever present an entrancing interest,
abounding in helpful suggestions, the crystallized
essence of a rich experience, to every lover of
flowers.

THE EDITORS.

Fragrant Sweet Peas

Mr. Burbank has a very keen sense of smell, and he is
always on the lookout for flowers that show exceptional quali-
ties of fragrance. Many sweet peas are quite odorless, but here are
some in which Mr. Burbank has developed an exquisite fra~
grance. Careful observation and persistent selective
breeding have been the watchwords here as
with so many other experiments.

WHAT TO WORK FOR
IN FLOWERS

AND How To PROCEED

ONE of my plant developments that usually
interests the visitor as much as almost
any other has to do not with the flower
or fruit of a plant but with the leaf.

The plant in question is a species of "wild
geranium" known as Heuchera micrantha, a native
of the western coast, and the anomaly of leaf that
attracts attention is the curiously erected, crinkled,
and corrugated condition that makes the foliage
of this plant quite unlike that of any other mem-
ber of the tribe that anyone has seen. Indeed the
new variety is so changed from its ancestral type
that it is considered entitled to recognition with
the varietal name cristata added to its technical
title. Were it found growing in the woods instead
of in a garden, it would be pronounced a new
species altogether.

The story of this anomalous geranium will

[VOLUME IX — CHAPTER I]

LUTHER BURBANK

serve as well as another to introduce our studies
of the development of new varieties of flowers,
even though the particular development under
consideration has to do with the leaf of the plant,
and not with its blossoms. The principle of devel-
opment is the same in its application to each
part of the plant, and we shall see plenty of illus-
trations of work with the flowers themselves
before we are through.

The wild geranium, of which the plant with the
strange leaf is a modified representative, is a plant
that normally has leaves some of which are rather
decorative because of their very slightly scalloped
margins, but which in general are quite plain.
Some of the leaves are flecked with brownish
spots, but the surface is quite smooth, as much
resembling an apple or geranium leaf as any
other. Even botanists have never taken special
notice of any variation in the form of the leaf.

There is, however, a marked tendency to
variation in different specimens, especially in the
brown spots on the leaves, and the crimson
sha dings in the fall.

A NEW LEAF BY SELECTION

Several years ago, in examining some of these
plants growing wild on a rocky ledge over Mt. St.
Helena, I observed one that had leaves slightly
crinkled at the edges. This slight, almost insig-

[8]

A Metamorphosed Leaf

In the center above, an ordinary leaf of the Heuchera, or
"wild geranium"; at right and left below, different types of
crested leaves of the same plant developed by Mr. Burbank through
selective breeding. The story of this modification of a leaf, as
told in the text, has peculiar interest. Doubtless many
other plants have similar possibilities of develop-
ment, and many an amateur should be stimu-
lated to emulate Mr. Burbank's exam-
ple; for the results of this par-
ticular experiment are at
once novel and striking.

LUTHER BURBANK

nificant, variation suggested the possibility that
farther variation in the same direction might take
place if the plants were educated in the right way.
So I transferred the plant with crinkled leaves to
my home grounds, and in due time gathered its
exceedingly diminutive black seeds.

When the little plants that grew from these
seeds next season were carefully examined, I
observed that some of them had leaves slightly
more crenated or crinkled than the others. So
even before the plants made much growth I was
able to weed out about half of them, as showing
no evidence of progress in the desired direction.

When the plants were still larger, but before
any flowers appeared, about half of the remainder
were pulled up; and later in the season still others
were discarded that had shown the crinkled con-
dition at an earlier period but did not tend to
carry it well as they advanced in age.

Of the many thousands with which I had
started in the spring, only a handful remained
toward seed time. And at last a single one among
these was chosen as presenting leaves that from
the point of view of the experiment were best.

This single plant was allowed to mature its
seed.

The plants that grew from this seed, represent-
ing now the second filial generation from the

[10]

ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

original wild plant, were treated in precisely the
same way. But it should be recorded that there
was great improvement in this second generation.
Now three-quarters of the plants showed leaves
that were markedly crinkled. Each plant produces
thousands of seeds, and progress was relatively
rapid, as great numbers could be produced from
which to select.

By process of elimination, the one best plant
was again selected and its seed preserved.

In the next generation, practically all of the
plants showed the curiously modified form of leaf.

In the fourth generation, as before, very large
numbers of plants were raised that there might be
wide opportunity for selection. Now all the plants
presented the crinkled leaves, but there were of
course individual specimens that excelled, and
these were chosen to the exclusion of the others.

Their progeny bore uniformly crinkled leaves
of the most pronounced type, and they constitute
the new species Heuchara cristata as it grows
to-day.

The remarkable crinkled and convoluted
leaves are so interesting that they are sometimes
preserved by electroplating, to be used as orna-
ments. They give the plant a very curious and
individual appearance, and present a striking illus-
tration of what may be done, by mere inbreeding

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ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

and systematic selection, to develop and accentu-
ate a plant characteristic.

No one who casually observed the old parent
form of the plant and the new modified form
growing side by side would be likely to suspect
that the two belong to the same species. Yet an
examination of the flowers would show that these
are identical, for in making the successive selec-
tions I paid attention to the leaf exclusively, and
did not seek in any way to modify other portions
of the plant's structure.

To the person who has not had experience in
plant development, probably the most remarkable
feature of the entire matter is the comparatively
short time required, and the few generations
involved, in producing what is a remarkable
transformation — the most conspicuous transfor-
mation in a leaf that has ever been produced. The
nearest approach to this structure is seen in the
leaf of the Rex Begonia called Erdody. It may
seem further remarkable that a transformation of
such significance could be effected in a few gen-
erations by selective breeding; without the aid of
special experiments in hybridizing.

But this case is presented here at the beginning
of our special studies of flower development,
largely to emphasize the possibility of modifying
even so fixed a structure as the leaf of a plant

[13]

LUTHER BURBANK

merely by selection of individual specimens that
vary in a given direction for a few generations.

I would emphasize, however, the necessity of
operating with a large number of specimens if one
is to obtain the best results in the shortest prac-
ticable time. The account of the experiment just
given makes it clear that by having large numbers
to choose from, I was enabled to discard number-
less specimens that would have answered the
purpose fairly well in favor of the single specimen
that showed the desired quality modified pre-
eminently.

THE QUESTION OF HYBRIDIZING

This case, as was said, illustrates the possibility
of producing striking results in plant modification
by mere selection without hybridization. No
effort was made to induce the plant to vary more
rapidly, first because there seemed no necessity
for stimulating it to further variation, and sec-
ondly because no plant was at hand which
presented such a character as the one I wished to
develop.

Yet it should not be overlooked that there was
an element of pollenizing involved, even though
the pollenizing was not done by the plant experi-
menter. This is almost axiomatic because of
course the plant would have produced no seeds
unless its pistils had been pollenized.

[14]

LUTHER BURBANK

All that I had done, to be sure, was to trans-
plant the original geranium to a bed where it was
isolated from any other plants of its species. But
such isolation in itself served to provide that the
pistils of the plant should be fertilized with pollen
from its own flowers.

In other words, by isolating this heuchera with
crinkled leaves it had been determined that the
pollen and ovules from the selected plant should
combine to produce the seed germs for the next
generation. And in so doing I made sure that both
hereditary strains — that brought by pollen and
that brought by ovule — should have the same
hereditary factors, because they were borne on
the same plant.

This, then, was a case of inbreeding, or
"intensification" which has been mentioned
previously. It was as far removed as possible
from the hybridizing experiments we have wit-
nessed in which species of widely different type,
say the strawberry and the raspberry, were inter-
bred. In such a case as that, the pollen and the
ovule bring groups of hereditary factors that are
widely divergent. And even in the usual cases of
cross-fertilization within a species, where pollen
of one plant is brought to the pistil of the flower
of a neighboring plant, there is a certain oppor-
tunity for the mingling of diverse hereditary

[16]

ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

factors, inasmuch as no two plants are precisely
alike.

But in the case of our heuchera, the flowers
were self -fertilized or at most the pollen from one
flower was transferred by an insect to the pistil of
a neighboring flower on the same stalk, and thus
it was arranged that both hereditary strains should
be as nearly identical as is possible.

In the essential matter of the form of leaf, the
hereditary factors brought by the pollen grains
called for a leaf with crinkled edges; and the
hereditary factors carried by the ovules had the
same specifications. So there was the best possible
chance that the offspring would reproduce or
accentuate the parent character.

And yet the results show that there must have
been a certain amount of diversity among the
various pollen grains and ovules even of the single
plant, inasmuch as the plants that grew from its
seed were diversified in character.

About half of them, it will be recalled, did not
present the crinkled leaf to any extent and were
at once eliminated.

And the other half showed the character in
varying degree.

Indeed, no two of them were precisely identical,
so we are justified in the conclusion that no two
pairs of pollen grains and ovules brought precisely

[17]

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ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

the same combination of hereditary factors
together.

When we consider the matter in this light, it
will be evident that all pollenizing experiments
are in a sense hybridizing experiments in one
degree or another, inasmuch as they all of neces-
sity bring together pollen grains and ovules that
vary somewhat, even if only in very minor degree,
in their hereditary factors.

But it remains true — and indeed is too
obviously true to require comment — that the case
of the pollen grains united with pistils on flowers
of the same plant (the case, that is to say, of the
heuchera under consideration) is that in which
there is the least possible degree of variation
between the two sets of elementary factors that
are combined.

Therefore this process of so-called inbreeding
introduces the least possible disturbing elements,
and gives the largest probability of the reproduc-
tion of any given trait of the mother plant — which
in this case is the father plant as well.

The practical results have been already illus-
trated in the production of this new race of
heuchera with leaves crinkled and corrugated in
unique fashion so that they differ fundamentally
from the characteristic leaves of any other species
or variety.

[19]

LUTHER BURBANK

The lesson to be drawn, then, from this experi-
ment is that when we wish to modify a plant as
to some particular feature of its anatomy, we
shall proceed to best advantage if we (1) select
an individual that shows the most marked
departure from the normal in the desired direction
of any that can be found; (2) isolate this plant so
that its flowers shall be self -fertilized, or else hand
pollenize them; and then (3) follow out a similar
course of selection of the best individual and self-
fertilization of its flowers through successive gen-
erations until the maximum amount of variation
in the desired direction that is attainable has been
produced. It sometimes hastens the process to
combine two or more of the best plants by cross-
ing rather than to depend on a single one.

We shall see in other connections, as indeed
we have previously seen in our studies of many
plants, that it is frequently desirable to stimulate
variation by hybridizing plants that are divergent,
even plants of different species. But when an
individual plant presenting an approach to the
desired variation or modification has been found
among the hybrid progeny, the successive steps of
inbreeding and selection, through which the char-
acter is accentuated and fixed, will be carried out
precisely as in the case of the little heuchera just
cited.

[20]

All-Red Tritomas

With a bunch of these red tritomas and a bunch of the
variegated ones shown in the preceding picture in the garden,
there is opportunity for an interesting crossbreeding experiment, to
observe color variation. We shall see that numberless flowers
offer opportunities for similar studies in color variation;
and that few other lines of plant development afford
more interesting or more striking results than
those that have to do with the modifica-
tion of the color of flowers.

LUTHER BURBANK

Indeed, had we been able to take up the story of
our little heuchera a generation or two earlier, we
should have found, in all probability, that such a
crossbreeding experiment as has just been sug-
gested had been performed for us by Nature. It is
highly probable that the original specimen with
the tendency to crinkled leaves that was found in
the woods was the product of a cross between
plants, perhaps of the same species, that were
individually widely variant from one another. The
plant grew on a cliff where very dry, very moist
and very unusual conditions of the sun, the shade,
moisture and soil prevailed, thus having current
in its heredity a tendency to vary more or less,
since heredity is only the visible effect of near and
far environments.

Whatever the individual peculiarities of the
parents of this particular plant, the individual that
I found had leaves that were somewhat highly
accentuated in a certain direction, being thus
proved to be the possessor of a somewhat unusual
combination of hereditary factors for leaf forma-
tion.

In a word, then, whereas the experiment with
the little heuchera may be described as consisting
exclusively (so far as the plant developer was con-
cerned) of a series of selections, it really involved
also the principle of the inducement of variation

[22]

ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

by crossbreeding and the fixing of characters by
inbreeding.

And these fundamental principles of plant
development must be involved, in one degree or
another, in all successful experiments in the devel-
opment and fixing of new types of plant form or
leaf or flower or fruit.

Let us now witness the application of the same
principles to the flower of the plant with reference
to the different characteristics of size and color
and odor and modified petal or stamen or pistil
that may be involved.
PRODUCING A DESIRED FRAGRANCE IN THE FLOWER

Probably no other characteristic of the flower
is more highly prized than its odor.

The rose and the carnation owe their popular-
ity as much to their fragrance as to their color and
form, yet there are numbers of very beautiful and
popular flowers that are quite without attractive
fragrance. There is no line of experimental work
with the flowers that should be more attractive to
the amateur than the development of fragrant
varieties of some of these odorless flowers.

And fortunately it is an undertaking that may
be expected to produce very satisfactory results —
as immediate, as striking, and as valuable results
as from any other plant experiment. In any group
of odorless flowers, you may have the good fortune

[23]

LUTHER BURBANK

to detect, if you search carefully enough, one that
differs from its fellows in having at least a sugges-
tion of fragrance. And if you will work in the
right way with this individual, you will probably
be able to produce a race of perfumed flowers-
supplying you, therefore, with a flower different
from anything in the garden of your neighbor, and
adding the finishing touch to a blossom which,
however attractive otherwise, could not be consid-
ered perfect so long as it lacked this finishing
quality.

In an earlier volume we have heard the story
of the fragrant Calla.

The reader will recall that this anomalous vari-
ety, known now as the Fragrance, was developed
by simple selection, along the lines just illustrated
in the case of the little heuchera, with the differ-
ence merely that the characteristic borne con-
stantly in mind was fragrance of the Calla blos-
som instead of a peculiar conformation of leaf.

By "line-breeding" and careful selection, I was
enabled in a few generations to isolate a calla that
has delicious fragrance while retaining all the
other qualities of the flower unchanged.

The seedlings of this selected calla are not in-
variably fragrant. By careful inbreeding the fra-
grant calla could without doubt be made to breed
true to the quality of fragrance. In the particular

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LUTHER BURBANK

case of the calla, this is of no special importance,
as the plant is propagated by division.

But in plants that are propagated solely by
seed, the fixing of the quality of fragrance would
be essential.

Fortunately it presents no special difficulties
once a fragrant variant has been found.

In a later chapter we shall learn of other exper-
iments in producing fragrant flowers, and details
will be given of the story of my fragrant verbena
which was introduced under the name of May-
flower. The amateur who wishes to experiment
along these lines may begin with almost any odor-
less flower in the garden. It is only necessary to
search for delicate traces of fragrance, and to
learn to recognize nice shades of distinction among
odors. Anyone can readily detect the difference
in fragrance in several varieties of the violet, roses,
or carnations, for example; and a still more highly
cultivated odor-sense enables one to notice differ-
ences in the fragrance of apple, peach, or almost
any other blossoms from different trees or plants.

So it is not necessary to confine one's experi-
ments to flowers that lack fragrance altogether.
Interesting results may be obtained by selecting
among fragrant flowers those that have the most
pleasing perfume, and developing those races that
are especially notable for their fragrance.

[26]

ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

The failure to give attention to the matter of
fragrance sometimes leads to the cultivation of a
special variety of fragrant blossom that has alto-
gether lost its perfume. An illustration of this
came to my attention not long ago when visiting
the seed farm of the best known seedsman in
America. He showed me his new varieties of
sweet-peas with great pride; and when I called his
attention to the fact that a number of them were
totally lacking in fragrance of any kind, he was
not a little surprised.

He was breeding sweet-peas for immense size
and had succeeded, through selection, in produc-
ing very striking varieties.

But he had taken it for granted that all sweet-
peas are fragrant, and had before failed to observe
that these particular ones had no perfume
whatever.

Yet this seedsman is an expert who has been
for nearly forty years in the business of growing
flowers. Like perhaps most others, he had taken
it for granted that all varieties of fragrant flowers
are fragrant. Series of experiments in crossbreed-
ing would be necessary to reintroduce the perfume
to these varieties that have lost this finishing
quality.

This case is mentioned to illustrate the fact that
a given quality may be dropped out of a strain of

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ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

flowers while another quality is being bred in.
Also to emphasize the point that it is usually well
to consider more than a single quality in any
breeding experiment.

At least it is desirable to see that the qualities
already present are not lost in the process of
gaining new ones.

PRODUCING NEW COLORS

I am disposed to think that all shades of all
colors that can be produced by blending of the
primary colors are within the possible attainment
of any flowering plant.

The obvious fact that certain species, and in
some cases whole genera, produce only red flow-
ers, others only blue ones or yellow, does not by
any means prove that the plants in question have
not the capacity to produce flowers of quite differ-
ent color.

We have seen that the colors of wild flowers
have been given them by insects. We have noted
that the bright colors — reds, orange, blues — have
been assumed by flowers that flourish in the day-
time and seek association with the bees; and that
the flowers that consort with night flying insects,
such as moths, are almost universally decked in
white or pale yellow — hues that make them far
more conspicuous in the twilight than the most
brilliant scarlet flower would be.

[29]

LUTHER BURBANK

Most wild flowers of a given species are of a
single color, or of a definite arrangement or com-
bination of colors. Bees and other insects have
learned to distinguish this characteristic color or
combination of colors, and to go with certainty
from one flower to another of the same species,
thus unconsciously serving the flower well by
cross-pollenizing its blossoms.

I have often thought how confusing it must be
to the bees on coming to our gardens to find flow-
ers that perhaps are familiar to perfume and form,
now arrayed in a dress of unfamiliar hues. But
bees, like flowers, can adapt themselves to their
environment. They soon adapt themselves to the
new colors and combinations of colors that man
has given the flowers, and they go about their task
with undiminished celerity and certainty.

Recognition of the fact that wild flowers have
been given their colors by the insects through the
slow process of natural selection (in which flowers
that lack the color were not visited by the bees and
hence produced no offspring; whereas the flowers
that did produce the color were fertilized, and per-
petuated their kind, and reproduced their qualities
in abundant progeny) gives us the clue to the way
in which we may go about the development of a
new color or color-combination in a flower.

Suppose, for example, we desire to change the

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flower from white to yellow. How shall we go
about it?

First of all, we must produce thousands of
seedlings from our white flower. Let them blos-
som, and then search among them with the keen-
est eye to detect a trace of yellow color — which
is found more or less in all white flowers — in the
flowers of any single plant.

You are almost certain, if your scrutiny is suffi-
ciently keen, to detect some plant that varies an
infinitesimal shade from its fellows, showing at
least a trace of yellow; for a really pure white is
extremely rare in Nature.

Select the seed of this plant; sow it next season;
and repeat the process of searching.

You will almost certainly be rewarded, if not
in the first season, then in the second or third or
fourth, by finding flowers that show very much
more marked traces of yellow than the original
flower. And even if the variation is not very strik-
ing at first, you will probably find that it tends to
be accentuated after a few generations, especially
in certain individuals. Each year you will dis-
cover flowers that are yellower than any of the
preceding season; and presently you will have a
blossom that is as yellow as you could desire, and
a new race of plants that will breed true from
seed. Placed side by side with the white flowers

[32]

ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

that were their ancestors, your new race will
present a striking contrast.

The fact that you have thus been instrumental
in virtually creating a new type of flower can
scarcely fail to give you real satisfaction and
pleasure.

The fact that you have a flower such as per-
haps no one else in the world possesses, and that
this has been produced by intelligent and persist-
ent effort, must be a source of quite justifiable
self-gratulation.

In subsequent studies we shall see that there
are methods of stimulating the production of new
colors and color combinations through hybridiza-
tion. But in this introductory chapter I am dealing
chiefly with the simpler cases, and suggesting ex-
periments that the amateur may undertake at the
outset.

The more complex cases will command his
attention in due course.

Meantime it should be stimulative to reflect
that, by mere selection, demanding no knowledge
of botany, no expert knowledge of horticulture,
but only the possession of reasonably acute vision
and the exhibition of patience and persistence, it
is possible to develop in the most commonplace
flower-garden blossoms whose color is at once
unique and of enhanced beauty.

[33]

LUTHER BURBANK

Nor need attention be restricted to mere mat-
ters of fragrance and color.

I have already suggested that it is usually well
to consider more than a single quality. Cases like
that of the heuchera leaf, in which for a special
purpose a single quality alone is considered, are
exceptional. As a rule, you may advantageously
bear in mind, at the same time that you are devel-
oping a new fragrance, the question also of color
of flower, and size, and form.

At all events, so soon as your experiment has
reached the stage at which you have a number of
fragrant flowers from which to select, all of which
have about the same excellence of perfume, you
will, as a matter of course, choose among these the
one that combines with fragrance the most desired
qualities of color and form and size of blossom.
DOUBLING THE PETALS AND INCREASING SIZE

As to the matter of size, it is obvious that not
much need be said. A glance shows which plant
bears the largest flowers. And it may confidently
be expected that the offspring of this plant will
tend to produce flowers of exceptional size, and
that some among these will exceed the parent plant
in this regard.

Precisely the same method of selecting, gen-
eration after generation, with size of flower always
in view, will lead to the production of a race of

[34]

Coreopsis or Golden Wave

A selected Burbank variety, differing only in minor de-
tails from a good many other varieties. The coreopsis is one of
the flowers that Mr. Burbank commends to the attention of the amateur,
as being easy of cultivation and responsive of temperament.

LUTHER BURBANK

plants that tend to produce uniformly, under the
right conditions of nourishment and care, flowers
of a far larger size than those of the ancestral
form.

The matter of producing double flowers from a
single variety — that is to say, flowers having two
or more rows of petals instead of a single row-
may present greater difficulties. Not, indeed, that
any new principle is involved, but merely that a
longer series of experiments may be required to
produce the coveted double flower. The start
must be made here just as in the other cases, by
searching among the hundreds or thousands of
plants for one that bears flowers having even a
single extra petal.

Seed of this plant being sown, it is likely that
among the offspring there will be some that pro-
duce not merely one extra petal, but possibly two
or three.

THE THREE REQUISITES

Now you are on the road to success. Thence-
forward it is only a matter of time, skill, and
patience — the three essential requisites of plant
development — combined with the dealing with
large numbers of individuals.

Exceptionally there may suddenly appear a
seedling producing flowers that are fully double.
In such a case, if the truth could be known, it

[36]

ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

would propably appear that some of the ancestors
of the seedling had produced — perhaps genera-
tions back — a double or partially double flower.
Breeding from a double rose or carnation, almost
all the seedlings revert to a single or semi-double
form.

But in any event, once you have singled out a
strain of flower that has the tendency to produce
extra petals, you will probably find this tendency
accentuated, manifesting what I have elsewhere
referred to as the momentum of variation, and
giving you results that are more and more encour-
aging each season.

ASKING Too MUCH

Should you attempt to produce a double flower
coincidently with the attempt to improve the scent
and color and size of the same flower, you may
presently discover that you are asking rather too
much.

The flowers that improve in odor and color
and size may not be the ones that show the in-
creased tendency to doubling of petals.

In such a case, you may segregate the two
groups, and carry forward the two lines of experi-
ment coincidently in neighboring plots; and
when you have attained a fair measure of success
in giving one race of flowers perfume and color
and size, and the other race a double or triple or

[37]

Bulb-Planting Time at Santa Rosa

Note the straight sharp-edged furrow, made with the aid
of a plank. All bulbs are planted in this way at Santa Rosa, as
Mr. Burbank could not bear to see his garden pets put out in a hap-
hazard or unsymmetrical manner. Part of Mr. Burbank's suc-
cess must be ascribed to the meticulous care with which
he supervises all details of the work of plant culture.

ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES

quadruple row of petals, you may readily make a
crossbreeding experiment through which you may
combine all the desired qualities in a single hybrid
offspring.

Even if the first-generation seedling of such a
cross does not give you just the combination you
are seeking, the second generation offspring or a
subsequent one are almost sure to reveal some
plants that meet your expectations.

So your simple experiments that began by mere
selection will probably lead you to experiments
in crossbreeding.

THE Two BASIC ELEMENTS

Thus by natural stages you will have learned
how to handle the essential tools of the plant
developer. You will have learned that the two
forces of heredity and environment are every-
where operative, and must everywhere be your
sole dependence. But you will have learned also
that your wishes become an important part of the
environment, when you determine which flowers
shall be permitted to reproduce their kind; and
that you also take a hand at determining the line
of action of hereditary tendencies when you cross-
pollinate the flowers, and decide which strains of
heredity shall be blended.

Let me in concluding this preliminary chapter
name two or three common flowers with which

[39]

LUTHER BURBANK

the amateur may advantageously begin his work
in selective breeding.

The rose and the carnation naturally suggest
themselves, but they have been so much worked on
that they do not leave so much opportunity for
wide improvement as some less popular flowers,
though offering grand opportunities for immediate
but less unique results.

The tulip is inviting, but calls for a good deal
of patience.

Perhaps the four o'clock would serve the pur-
pose as well as any other common flower. Also
the hyacinth, the scylla, and the gladiolus are
peculiarly good flowers on which to work. There
are many beautiful varieties of all of these but
new sorts could readily be produced. Moreover,
they are grown from bulbs, so any new varieties
may easily be perpetuated — a consideration that
is by no means without significance to the amateur
who wishes to obtain striking results with the least
expenditure of time.

Details as to numerous other flowers, including
both very common ones and those that are less
usual, and varying from the simplest to the most
complex, will come to our attention as we now
take up in succession the records of my own work
during the past four years in the development of
new races of flowers.

[40]

WORKING WITH A UNIVERSAL
FLOWER— THE ROSE

HOW THE BURBANK AND OTHER ROSES WERE

PRODUCED

THE most popular of any roses I have so far
introduced is undoubtedly the one known
as the Burbank.

The popularity of this rose is, I trust, well
deserved. But I should not be disposed to admit
that its merits are greater than those of many of
my newer roses which have not yet made their
appearance in public. The popularity of the Bur-
bank is partly to be explained by the fact that it
has been a good while before the public.

There is a time element in the introduction of
a new flower, just as in the introduction of a new
fruit. In fact, no new plant development could
be expected to make its way except very gradually
at first, although it gains momentum rapidly after
a time. In this regard, the introduction of a flower
is analogous to the development of the flower itself
through successive generations of variation.

[VOLUME IX — CHAPTER II]

LUTHER BURBANK

We have seen that when any given variation
is in question, there is a tendency to much more
rapid change after the experiment has progressed
a certain number of stages.

Similarly a flower or fruit that the public at
first accepts rather grudgingly may at last become
so popular that it is impossible to produce it
rapidly enough to meet the demand.

The Burbank rose, to be sure, did not fail of
recognition from the outset. But its gaining of the
gold medal as the best bedding rose at the St.
Louis International Exposition in 1904 was doubt-
less the thing that advertised it most extensively,
and led to its rather exceptionally rapid accept-
ance by the public.

On my own part, I look with particular pride
on this rose, not so much because it received the
gold medal as because competent judges every-
where have admitted that it deserved the recogni-
tion thus given it as the best bedding rose.

I have produced many plant developments that
are much more spectacular than the new rose, and
many that have elements of far greater novelty
and interest from the standpoint of both plant
developer and the general public. Yet I may be
permitted to indulge in a rather exceptional satis-
faction over the success of this flower for the rea-
son that the rose is probably the most popular of

[42]

An Attractive Chilean Rose Bush

Mr. Burbank has gathered roses from all over the world,

and used them in all manner of breeding experiments, both in

the way of pure selection and of hybridization. Here is a highly

attractive variety that came from Chile. It is but one of

many hundreds, yet it has distinction in any company.

LUTHER BURBANK

all cultivated plants, and the one that has received
most attention from horticulturists of all classes,
professional and amateur alike.

In attempting to introduce a new rose, then,
the plant developer is coming in competition with
a vast number of workers, and the product with
which he operates is to be measured against an
almost bewildering number of similar products
that have attained a high degree of improvement.
So, as I said, the plant developer may sometimes
regard with greater satisfaction such an accom-
plishment as this, than a more spectacular achieve-
ment in plant development in a line where there
is no competition.

How THE BURBANK WAS PRODUCED

The origin of the Burbank rose suggests in a
way the origin of that very different plant devel-
opment, the Burbank potato.

I was not personally responsible for either
name, and the analogy between the manner of
production of the rose and the potato was doubt-
less not at all in the mind of the dealer who chris-
tened the new flower. Still, as I have just inti-
mated, there is a certain added propriety in the
use of my name in connection with this particular
rose as against a good many other roses that I have
developed, because of the fact that the manner of
its production suggested that of the production of

[44]

ON THE ROSE

the first of my important plant developments. In
a word, the Burbank rose, like the Burbank potato,
owes its origin to the discovery of a seed-pod on a
plant that rarely produces seed.

The plant in the present instance was a Bour-
bon rose, of the familiar and typical species known
as Hermosa. This rose very rarely bears seed,
even in California, but on one occasion I discov-
ered half a dozen seed-pods on a plant that did
not differ otherwise in any obvious way from its
companion plants.

I carefully treasured these seeds, and from the
plants that they grew are descended not only the
Burbank rose, but also the Santa Rosa, and a num-
ber of others that are less well known.

With the fact that the Burbank rose was a
product of seeds thus accidentally garnered, how-
ever, the analogy with the Burbank potato ceases.

For, whereas the tuberous vegetable was pro-
duced in full perfection on one of the plants grown
directly from the seeds found in the potato ball,
the Burbank rose was developed only after nu-
merous hybridizing experiments in which new
blood was introduced, and new qualities were
brought into the combination.

Among other roses, the strains of which were
mingled with those of the offspring of the Hermosa
to produce the Burbank, was the Bon Silene. And

[45]

ON THE ROSE

there were at least three or four others that are
similarly to be credited, although the exact pedi-
grees of all of them are not matter of record.

Still the initial impulse to variation which sup-
plied the material for the new hybridizings, and
was thus primarily responsible for the outcome,
was given by the seeds gathered from the Her-
mosa. The same tendency to increased vigor and
productivity and variation that we saw manifested
in the case of the potato, and to which reference
has been made also in the case of the sugar-cane,
and of other plants that are usually propagated by
division rather than by cross-fertilization, was
doubtless given the seeds of the rose by a chance
mingling of just the right kind of pollen — brought
by some vagrant bee — with its usually unreceptive
ovules.

The lesson that cross-fertilization gives vigor,
and provides the materials for variation, which we
have seen emphasized so many times, is here given
a fresh illustration. It is a lesson that the grower
of roses and other long-cultivated flowers may
well bear in mind.

When the resources of selection have been
practically exhausted, and a particular variety of
flower has reached a static period, in which it
seems to present no further opportunity for devel-
opment in a given direction — say as to its odor, or

[47]

LUTHER BURBANK

its color, or its size — the plant experimenter should
never forget that there still lies open to him the
possibility of introducing new elements of varia-
bility, and new opportunities for improvement,
through hybridization.

This, of course, assumes that the flower has
not been so specialized that all its stamens have
been transformed into petals, so that it becomes
absolutely fertile. Such a transformation has,
indeed, been effected with a good many of the cul-
tivated flowers, including some of the roses. And
the case of the Hermosa, just cited, illustrates the
fact that some of our roses are practically sterile.
Indeed most of them are so.

But then the flower that has ceased to have
productive stamens may sometimes still have a
receptive pistil, so that new blood may be intro-
duced from a species that retains normal virility —
although in general, such flowers show small
capacity even for accepting the pollen.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW ROSES

The new Burbank rose and its sister plant, the
Santa Rosa, present further object lessons in the
value of cross-fertilization, in that they are not
only much more beautiful than the original Her-
mosa from which they sprang, but that they also
have qualities of hardiness and of productivity
that are the token of their mixed heritage.

[48]

LUTHER BURBANK

The new races are, indeed, so hardy that they
thrive in the northernmost parts of the United
States and in southern Canada. They are the
hardiest of all everblooming roses.

Their vigor and capacity for production of
flowers are so great that they bloom incessantly
throughout the season. Among all the roses there
is none that excels them in the matter of almost
perpetual blooming. The number of flowers pro-
duced by an individual plant is also quite out of
the ordinary.

Meantime the flowers themselves are very
superior in color to those of the Hermosa, and the
foliage of the plants is glossy and brilliant.

These qualities were of course taken into con-
sideration by the judges who gave the gold medal
to the Burbank. But there were others which were
given, no doubt, almost equal attention by the
experts. One of these is the vigorous habit of
growth of the plant, through which it comes about
that it may be propagated almost as readily as the
least fragrant weed; will root almost as easily as
blue-grass, and will bloom when only two or three
inches in height, and keep on blooming month
after month, and year after year, if the buds are
not actually frozen.

Another exceptional quality, which some prac-
tical horticulturists might regard as constituting a

[50]

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LUTHER BURBANK

merit surpassing all the rest, is the power of re-
sistance of the Burbank rose — which the Santa
Rosa shares — to those ever-present foes of the rose
family, mildew and rust.

The new roses appear to be absolutely immune
to the attacks not alone of these, but of other
fungoid enemies.

Their healthiness under all climatic conditions
is their final and definitive quality.

MAKING PLANTS IMMUNE TO DISEASE

This quality of immunity to disease, while pri-
marily due, no doubt, to the enhanced vitality
given the flowers through hybridization, has been
accentuated and developed by persistent selection.

In this regard, the roses do not differ from prac-
tically all other plants with which I operate. I
have referred more than once to my method of
developing immune races of plants, and empha-
size it once more with propriety in the present
connection, because, as is well known, the rose is
peculiarly susceptible to the attacks of many fun-
goid and insect enemies.

Indeed, many a rose that would otherwise have
value is so susceptible to the attacks of disease that
it not only gives no pleasure to its owner, but
becomes a source of infection in the garden that
makes its presence a menace to other flowers.

To give plants immunity to the chief diseases

[52]

ON THE ROSE

to which their species is subject is, therefore, one
of the prominent aims that I never overlook in the
course of experiments, no matter what the partic-
ular quality that may be chiefly sought.

Therefore I make it the invariable rule, what-
soever the plant with which I am working, to
examine the seedlings attentively from time to
time, to note whether any of them give evidence
of infection by mildew or any fungous growth.

And any seedling that is seen to be subject to
mildew is at once destroyed, regardless of the
value of its other qualities.

I should not regard a plant experiment success-
ful that led to the production of the most beautiful
and most fragrant and most prolific of roses, if at
the same time the plant that exhibited these quali-
ties was susceptible to mildew. Indeed, I have
destroyed thousands of otherwise promising roses
for the simple reason that they were subject to
mildew.

I have obtained scores of climbing roses that
were worthy to compete with the Crimson Rambler
or the Philadelphia Rambler and other standard
varieties, yet which have not been allowed to live
because of their susceptibility to disease.

But the reward of this unflinching application
of a principle has resulted in various types of
roses that are quite generally mildew-proof.

[53]

ON THE ROSE

Among the ramblers just referred to, for
example, by sedulous application of the principles
of selection, preserving only those plants that
showed themselves to have the quality of inherent
resistance to the fungus, I have remaining, after
thousands of their fellows have fallen by the way-
side, a few rambler roses of wholly new types,
which are immune to disease. This selection is
not as difficult as might be supposed, because a
rose that is intensely susceptible is generally
attacked during the first one or two years of its
existence.

Moreover, these new mildew-proof ramblers
manifest, partly perhaps as an evidence of the
vitality that makes them immune to disease, a
capacity to produce enormous clusters of the most
beautiful flowers that approach the keeping quali-
ties of some of the everlastings.

Some of them will last at least a month, on the
plant or when cut, showing thus a degree of per-
manency hitherto quite unheard of among roses.
ORIGIN OF THE ROBUST RAMBLERS

These hardy and prolific new ramblers are
largely hybrids.

There are several varieties of them represent-
ing different crosses between the well-known
Crimson Rambler and such roses as the Empress
of India and the Cecil Bruner and dozens of others.

[55]

LUTHER BURBANK

Those of the first named cross often have enor-
mous stems, with deep red hairy branches; while
the hybrids of other crosses often have slender,
smooth branches.

But the hybrids themselves have been inter-
bred, and other strains that seem to give good
promise were brought into their heredity, so that
they have traits that do not belong to any of the
original parents.

Some of these new ramblers have very large,
broad crimson prickles; others have long slender
ones set very closely together; still others are quite
without prickles, being as smooth as the Banksias.

In color, the new ramblers vary through crim-
son, scarlet, and pink to snowy white. Moreover,
some of them resemble the Japanese primrose in
color, and, when trained on a wall, present such
a unique appearance that they would not be rec-
ognized as roses when viewed from a little dis-
tance. These in particular are especially long
keepers.

In explanation of what has just been said as to
the uncertainties of the precise lineage of some of
my roses, it may be added I have experimented
first and last with a very large number of species
and varieties of both commonly cultivated and
wild ones, and I have not found it expedient or of
any special significance to attempt to keep a pre-

[56]

The Santa Rosa Rose

This is a variety that, singled out from among thousands,
was thought worthy of introduction. Moreover it was excep-
tionally honored in being given the name Santa Rosa. Mr. Burbank
must have thought it nearly perfect of its kind, or he would
not thus have honored it. The color photograph
testifies that his confidence was justified.

LUTHER BURBANK

else record of the hybridizations after they become
very complex.

For a good many years, to be sure, I kept accu-
rate check on the various crosses.

The names of the parents used in an original
hybridizing experiment were always recorded.

Later, as the cross became more complex, large
numbers of species being utilized, I attempted
short cuts by using numbers and letters on my
labels, the key to these being recorded in my plan
books.

This worked very well for a few years more.
But there came a time when an experiment with
a single strain of roses had been carried through
so many generations that the traits of ten species
or more would be combined in an individual.

At this stage I abandoned the numbers and
letters, and contented myself with a general knowl-
edge of the principal ancestors in the pedigree of
any new variety, distinguishing the new variety
itself by a temporary name for purposes of further
record.

Thus I have, for example, grown upward of
two hundred thousand seedlings from the Crim-
son Rambler pollenated with all the ordinary roses
that are under cultivation in California. The pol-
len of only a few of them proved effective. But
here and there a rose like the Empress of India or

[58]

A New Yellow Rambler

The ramblers, of many types, are favorites with Mr.

Burbank. He has crossbred any number of them, and has

produced some very notable new varieties. Here is a yellow one that

has obvious distinction. As yet it has no name.

LUTHER BURBANK

the Cecil Bruner will hybridize readily with the
Rambler. Then it is possible to cross the hybrids
with numerous other hybridized roses, some of
which would not cross, or cross very unwillingly,
with the Crimson Rambler itself.

The parents for the new crosses being them-
selves hybrids of complicated ancestry, it is obvi-
ous that the pedigrees in a few generations become
so complicated that if one were to attempt to trace
them there would be little time left for any other
experiments.

So, as I said, I have contented myself with
watching for results among the hybrid progeny of
my roses of multiple ancestry.

There are a few of the new developments that
carry strains of almost every rose generally known
and cultivated up to within ten years ago, and
many species not under cultivation.

SOME ANCESTORS OF THE NEW ROSES

It would be superfluous to name all the species
that I have had under cultivation and have tested
as to their possible value as hybridizing agents.

Even were I disposed to make such a record,
it would necessarily lack finality. For there are
perhaps few plants regarding which botanists are
more at variance, when it comes to the matter of
classifying and differentiating the species.

It is recorded, for example, that some classi-

[60]

ON THE ROSE

fiers estimate the total number of species of roses
at about thirty; whereas, on the other hand, a
French botanist of some authority has described
no fewer than 4,266 species from Europe and
Western Asia alone. Meantime, botanists in gen-
eral are disposed to recognize something over 100
species, not always being able to agree as to which
forms are entitled to rank only as varieties.

If there is such uncertainty among the profes-
sional classifiers, it goes without saying that the
vagueness of characterization of different alleged
species and varieties is far greater among practical
horticulturists. There are, to be sure, a good many
pretty clearly fixed types that are everywhere rec-
ognized as having individuality. But each of these
is represented by many varieties, and these varie-
ties tend more or less to run into one another. This
can hardly be otherwise, considering the extent
to which hybridization takes place.

So, as I said, it would be impossible to make
clear record of all the species of roses that have
been utilized in my experiments, even were it
desirable to do so.

But it may be worth while to name a few of
the more conspicuous ones that have been of ex-
ceptional service, and the hereditary factors of
which have been blended and intermingled to
produce the new types of roses.

[61]

The Corona Rose

This is a crimson rambler seedling, of mixed heritage, that
has such altogether notable qualities as to justify its introduc-
tion. It is named the Corona. Like many of Mr. Burbank's selected
ramblers, it is extraordinarily vigorous, thrifty, and prolific.

ON THE ROSE

The white and buff Banksias, which are abun-
dantly grown in California for ornamenting
houses, trees, and arbors, have proved of service
because they are very rapid growers, and are
practically without thorns.

The Rosa gymnocarpa, which is indigenous to
British America and California, is a pretty and
graceful rose, producing fine single flowers that
grow in large clusters, and having the element of
hardiness that characterizes the wild plant.

The Chinese rose, in numerous varieties (Rosa
Chinensis), and the Japanese rose (Rosa rugosa),
have made their influence felt in many hybrids.
So also has the Wichuriana. The seedpods of the
Japanese species are unusually large and hand-
some. The hybridization of the Japanese rose
with the Bon Silene and with other strains, includ-
ing the Hermosa, produced a number of admirable
roses that I have introduced, including the Pipette,
Coquito, and Peach Blow.

The General Jacqueminot, one of the best
known of the hardy perpetual bloomers, is itself a
hybrid — as indeed are all other cultivated roses,
no doubt, could we know their precise pedigree.

It is a hardy and prolific plant, and its qualities
are curiously prepotent when it is crossed with
other varieties. This applies not merely to the
form and color of the flower itself but to the entire

[63]

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ON THE ROSE

structure of the plant. Its chief characteristics
seem to have peculiar prepotency or dominance.
But of course the latent characteristics of the vari-
ety with which the Jacqueminot is crossed may
reappear in later generations.

In striking contrast with the virility of the
Jacqueminot is the approximate sterility of the
hardy old-fashioned Persian rose.

This has blossoms of the handsomest yellow
color, and on this account was regarded as a desir-
able parent for hybridizing experiments, notwith-
standing that it blooms for only a short season in
the early summer. But not only does the Persian
rose itself fail to produce seed, but its pollen seems
to be sterile when applied to the pistils of other
flowers or fails to reveal its character in the seed-
lings. For many years I attempted to hybridize
the Persian rose with the Tea rose, Perpetuals,
Banksias, Multifloras, Bourbons, Wichurianas, and
many others, but in no case did I succeed in mak-
ing a useful combination. Nor was the experi-
ment more successful when an attempt at a recip-
rocal cross was made. The pistils of the Persian
rose failed to respond to the stimulus of pollen
from whatever source. So, of course, there was no
strain of the Persian rose in any of my hybrids.
This variety has seemingly reached a stage where
it can apparently be perpetuated only by division.

[65]

LUTHER BURBANK

Enough has been said to show that the rose is
a very tractable flower. Indeed, the very fact of
the number of its species and varieties sufficiently
attests its variability and receptivity.

Moreover, the rose is entitled to be considered
pre-eminently the universal flower. It doubtless
excels all others in popularity and it differs from
most others in that it is prized equally in its differ-
ent varieties for its form, its color, and its
fragrance.

As to all of these, to be sure, approximate per-
fection appears to have been attained with a good
many varieties of roses. Yet the fact that new
varieties are from time to time put forward shows
that there is always opportunity for improvement.
I have emphasized certain directions in which the
improvement of the many varieties is possible —
notably in the matter of hardiness and resistance
to disease.

THE CHANCE FOR NEW ROSES

But, in point of fact, the list of qualities that
are taken into consideration by the connoisseur as
well as the commercial grower of roses is so exten-
sive that there is opportunity for development
through selective breeding of almost any existing
variety as to one or another trait that it lacks.
Abundance of bloom, lasting qualities of the
flower, beautiful buds, long stems, handsome foli-

[66]

Blue Roses

Few types of experiment appeal more strongly to Mr.
Burbank than those directed toward the bringing out of some
obscure quality or submerged trait of a flower, such, for example, as
an unfamiliar or unusual color. No one needs to be told
that a blue rose is an anomaly. The color photo-
graph shows Mr. Burbank's success in caus-
ing the rose to take on this un-
familiar color.

LUTHER BURBANK

age — these are qualities in addition to the funda-
mental ones of hardiness and resistance to disease
that must be taken into account in estimating the
value of a rose. Then there is one other character-
istic of the rose which has hitherto scarcely been
considered by anyone, yet which seemingly lies
within the possibility of development. This is the
matter of increasing the amount of pulp that
encases the seed pod of the rose. So much atten-
tion has been given to the flower that no one has
given heed to the fruit. But it is familiarly known
that the rose belongs to the same natural order
with the apple, the pear, and our other chief fruit
growers of the orchard. So it is a reasonable as-
sumption that this plant could be educated, were
sufficient attention paid to the matter, to produce
an edible fruit.

Even as the case stands, the fruit of some of
the wild roses is sometimes eaten by children,
though its proportion of pulp to seed is so small
as to be almost negligible. And what has been
accomplished with other members of the tribe
makes it seem probable that the pulp could be
developed and the seed correspondingly decreased
until the fruit became quite transformed.

I have said that the rose is the universal flower.
Doubtless it already takes first rank among the
flowers that man has brought under cultivation.

[68]

ON THE ROSE

But if it could be made to supplement its wonder-
ful blossom with a really valuable edible fruit,
the pre-eminence of the rose among all the plants
that man has placed under cultivation would be
still more firmly established.

— There is a time element in
the introduction of a new
flower or fruit. In fact, no new
plant development could be
expected to make its way ex-
cept very gradually at first;
although it gains momentum
with great rapidity after a time.

Haemanthus Blossoms

The Heamanthus or blood lily is a South African bulbous
plant, of which there are many species, belonging to the same
family with the amaryllis. It will be seen that the flowers of this
particular species are very attractive in themselves; but their
chief value in Mr. Burbank's eyes is their possible avail-
ability for hybridizing experiments with some of
their relatives. We shall see that Mr. Bur-
bank has made very notable experi-
ments in hybridizing members
of this family.

ACCOMPLISHING

THE APPARENTLY IMPOSSIBLE

WITH THE AMARYLLIS

WONDERFUL NEW BLOSSOMS NEARLY A FOOT IN
WIDTH

I TAKE it that a flower ten to twelve inches
across occupies about the relative position
among flowers that a man ten to twelve feet
high would occupy among men.

Doubtless you have never seen a ten-foot giant,
for I believe there is no record of any human being
of that size. And I presume that you have never
seen a ten-inch flower, unless one of my giant
amaryllis blossoms has come to your attention.

At all events, it is rare indeed that any flower
here in the temperate zone attains even approxi-
mately such a size. The blossoms of some of my
new artichokes spread out to the same dimensions
as Lilium auratum, and exceptionally there may
be an individual blossom of some other species
that has a spread that approaches the same mark.

In general, however, as everyone knows, flow-
ers are accounted large if they exceed six inches

[VOLUME IX — CHAPTER III]

LUTHER BURBANK

in diameter, somewhat as a man is accounted
large if he exceeds six feet in height.

But several of my new giant amaryllis, with
their ten-inch spread of petals, are very anom-
alous and extraordinary flowers. As I said before,
they occupy among flowers a position not very
different from that which would be occupied
among men by a ten-foot giant.

If no ten-foot giant has ever appeared, it is
probably not so much because the human race
does not have potentialities of producing such a
specimen, but that experiments in selective breed-
ing of men for the quality of size, comparable to
the hybridizations that produced the giant ama-
ryllis, have never been carried out during a series
of generations.

BREEDING GIANTS

Everyone has heard of the attempt that was
once made by a Prussian king to develop a race
of giants by selective breeding.

As the story goes, the king marshaled all the
tall men he could find into a special regiment, and
sent inspectors over his kingdom in search of tall
women as wives for his tall soldiers. He intended
thus to produce a royal bodyguard of giants that
should be the astonishment of the world.

And no one who has followed out a series of
experiments in selective breeding of plants, and

[72]

A Burbank Crinum

This is a hybrid between the crinum and the amaryllis,
which has developed a bulb of extraordinary size. Some speci-
mens have bulbs larger than a man's head. The flowers are not so
notable, but they have interest because of their origin.

LUTHER BURBANK

who realizes the essential identity of the principles
of heredity, applied to men and plants alike, will
doubt that the would-be developer of a race of
giants was on the right track.

He was starting out in just the way that 1
started when aiming to produce a race of amaryl-
lis plants that would grow gigantic flowers.

But even had the royal experiment in man-
breeding been carried forward by the successors
of the originator of the idea, it would have been
a long time before a giant appeared among the
royal guards that overtopped his fellows in such
proportion as the giant amaryllis outspreads its
companions.

For there is a time element in these breeding
experiments that cannot be ignored; and the units
of measurement are not years but generations.

In the case of the amaryllis a generation varies
somewhat with different species and varieties, but
frequently is not more than two years. In other
words, many species of amaryllis will produce
seed in their second year, when grown from seed.
And at most three or four years suffice to bridge
the gap between successive generations.

But a human generation spans a gap of some-
thing like a quarter of a century. As a rule the
most vigorous and healthy offspring are not born
until their parents are at least twenty-five years

[74]

ON THE AMARYLLIS

old. So in making an analogy between the breed-
ing of a giant amaryllis and the breeding of a giant
man, it is necessary to bear in mind that ten gen-
erations of the amaryllis are compassed in the
span of a single human generation.

In other words, the plant developer may log-
ically hope to produce with his amaryllis, in a
period of twenty-five years, a development com-
parable to that which the royal breeder of giants
could hope to have duplicated only in the reign
of some successor, perhaps of another dynasty,
250 years later.

It has taken at least ten generations of hybrid-
izing and selection to produce my giant amaryllis.

So we may assume that if the project of the
Prussian king, which was inaugurated about the
middle of the eighteenth century, had been sys-
tematically followed up by his successors, there
might be a possibility that a ten-foot giant would
have appeared among the descendants of the giant
guardsmen about the year 2,000 A. D.

We may add, however, that it would probably
have been necessary to extend the search for
giants, to breed into the strain of royal guardsmen,
far beyond the bounds of Prussia.

Reasoning still from plant analogies, we may
assume that the full measure of possible develop-
ment in the direction of the ten-foot giant would

[75]

Pollenizing the Amaryllis

After many years of failure in attempting to improve the
amaryllis, Mr. Burbank was successful only when he had
learned the peculiarity of this flower, which is clearly shown in the
color photograph print above. The pistil, as will be seen, is longer
than the stamens, and appears at first with a stubby end, which later
divides into three lobes. In the case of the amaryllis the pistil
does not become receptive until the flower itself is with-
ered, as is shown in the upper left-hand corner
above. Only when the flower itself has faded
does the pistil open up its three sticky
lobes, and only then can pol-
lenization be accomplished.

ON THE AMARYLLIS

have been attained only when men and women of
widely divergent races — Turks, Persians, Hindoos,
Negroes, Patagonians, South Sea Islanders — were
brought into the coalition and mingled with the
European races.

And in making this illustration I am only seek-
ing another way of emphasizing the truth which
we have seen illustrated in many fields, that the
widest possible range of variation, and therefore
the greatest possible opportunity for development
along any given line, can be stimulated only by
the hybridization of species or varieties that are
divergent almost to the limits of affinity — using
the word affinity in the sense defined in our ear-
lier studies of cross-fertilization.

It was thus that my gigantic walnut trees were
produced, as the reader will recall.

It was thus that the fruit of the little beach-
plum was magnified from the size of a berry to
that of a nectarine.

It was thus that the giant among small fruits,
the Phenomenal berry, was brought into being.

And such also was the origin of the giant spine-
less cactus plants, and of numerous other plant
developments in their way quite as remarkable,
even if not always so spectacular.

FLOWERS VERSUS MEN

With the breeding of a giant race of men, we

[77]

LUTHER BURBANK

are of course as little concerned as the successors
of the Prussian king who inaugurated the short-
lived experiment.

There is no real demand for a race of human
giants. They would not fit into the scheme of
things. Houses and carriages and furniture are
not built for them. At best they would be but
curiosities, and the world produces quite enough
human curiosities by accidental breeding without
starting out systematically to secure them.

But it is quite otherwise with plants. Here the
production of curiosities — that is to say, plants
that differ conspicuously from their fellows of the
same species — is an object considered quite worth
while, because these plant curiosities, provided
the anomaly they present has to do with some in-
offensive quality, give pleasure and profit to plant
lovers everywhere, and add to the sum total of
human happiness.

Such a product as the giant amaryllis, for
example, excites universal admiration.

The mammoth flower is a thing of genuine
beauty, regardless of size; and if mere size does
not in itself accentuate the beauty, it at least does
not detract from it, and it brings to the beholder
an added sense of wonderment that enhances the
satisfaction with which the flower is viewed, and
gives a pleasurable stimulus to the imagination.

[78]

Chilean Wild Amaryllis

In conducting his very extensive experiments »«****..

members of the amaryllis tribe, Mr Burbank has sent to all

parts of the world for new species and varieties. Here is one from

Chile which has been utilized, along with many others,

in crossbreeding experiments.

LUTHER BURBANK

So it may be assumed that the task of develop-
ing this unusual flower was a task quite worth the
doing. It called for many years of earnest effort,
of patient waiting, and of intelligent selection. But
the results fully justify the effort.

The story of the difficulties encountered in the
early day of my experiments with the amaryllis in
effecting cross-fertilization of the flower has been
told in an earlier chapter. The reader will recall
that I was at first unaware that the pistil of the
flower matures at a later date than the stamens;
hence that for a time I applied pollen carefully to
the pistil of flower after flower before it had at-
tained the receptive stage, and so failed to get any
results.

But in due course I learned that the pollen must
be taken to the pistil of a flower that has shed its
own pollen several days earlier and when I under-
stood this simple feature of the technique of cross-
fertilizing the amaryllis, I had no further difficulty
as to that part of the experiment.

MATERIALS FOR THE EXPERIMENT

The material with which I began my experi-
ments consisted of a few familiar species of the
genus Hippeastrum. Properly speaking, this genus
should not be called amaryllis, as that name be-
longs to an allied genus with which we shall make
acquaintance presently.

[80]

ON THE AMARYLLIS

But the various species of Hippeastrum are
known universally as amaryllis to the florist, and
it will be convenient here to follow the general
custom of applying that name to all the members
of allied genera that are grouped together horti-
culturally and everywhere referred to as if they
were of one tribe.

We shall see presently that the members of the
different genera, including not only the hippeas-
trums and the genus Amaryllis itself, but also
Sprekelia, Crinum, and Brunsvigia, have been va-
riously hybridized in the course of my experi-
ments. Thus the affinity suggested by their sim-
ilarity of appearance is demonstrated, justifying
at least in a measure the convenient horticultural
custom of applying the familiar name amaryllis
to all of them.

Peculiar interest and probably exceptional im-
portance attaches to the fact that the first group
of plants of this tribe with which I experimented
included the forms of cultivated amaryllis known
as Hippeastrum Johnsoni, H. vittatam, and H.
reginae.

The significance of this lies in the fact that
although these are plants of quite different char-
acteristics, so that they everywhere rank as good
species or fixed varieties, yet in point of fact the
one first named, Johnson's amaryllis, is a hybrid

[81]

Peruvian Amaryllis

This is another member of the amaryllis tribe that has
come to Santa Rosa to enter into Mr. Burbank's experiments in
developing this remarkable race of flowers. This Peruvian species
unnamed, and perhaps was never elsewhere under cultivation.

ON THE AMARYLLIS

that resulted from the union of the other two
species.

The hybridizing experiment through which this
new form was produced was made as long ago as
the year 1799 by an English amateur gardener
named Johnson, whose business of watchmaking
had presumably given him facility in the perform-
ance of such a manipulation as is involved in the
hand pollenizing of flowers.

The hybrid form thus produced not only took
its place as a recognized horticultural variety, but
was botanically recognized as entitled to a distinc-
tive name. It has maintained its place alongside
the parent forms during the century and more
since it was first developed. Doubtless there have
been some modifications in the original character-
istics of the hybrid through selection, but, for any-
thing we know to the contrary, Johnson's amaryllis
retains to this day the essential characteristics of
the hybrid developed by the watchmaker through
the union of the two other species.

Inasmuch as the amaryllis is often grown from
seed, it may be assumed that any given specimen
of Johnson's amaryllis in existence to-day, includ-
ing of course those with which I first experimented,
is a generation or more removed from the original
hybrid. Not so many generations as might at first
thought appear, for the usual method of propaga-

[83]

LUTHER BURBANK

tion of the amaryllis is by bulbs. But now and
again new plants would be raised from the seed,
and it would be natural that the florist should
select for seedlings the best and most typical rep-
resentatives of the species. So we may assume
that the specimens with which I worked repre-
sented a fixed type of hybrid inbred for a number
of generations, yet still carrying the new combina-
tion of hereditary factors originally brought
together through hybridization of the other forms,
already named as H. vittatum and H. reginae.
VERY MIXED PEDIGREES

So when I began hybridizing experiments, and
crossed the H. Johnsoni with H. vittatum, I was
in reality making a union of a hybrid with one of
its parents.

The closeness of affinity of the two would insure
ready fertilization. But, on the other hand, the
balance of hereditary factors that had been at-
tained in the hybrid would be disturbed and the
immediate offspring would really represent sec-
ond-generation hybrids, of which one parent was
at the same time a grandparent.

The disturbing influence of this hybridization
was manifest enough from the outset, and the ten-
dency to variation thus initiated was accentuated
in the next generation, which brought into the
cross another species known as H. aalicum.

[84]

LUTHER BURBANK

was still further accentuated in the next genera-
tion, when I used as hybridizing agent H. Reginea,
which, it will be recalled, was one of the original
parents of H. JohnsonL

Thus, having started with a hybrid, I had pro-
duced three additional generations of hybrids, in
which the parent forms were used and a different
species added, so that my fourth-generation hy
brids had the strains of three species curiously
blended.

Persons who care for matters of genealogy
might find it of interest to attempt to unravel the
pedigrees of these fourth-generation hybrids
which had for one parent the species H. reginae
and for the other a hybrid whose parents were
born of a union of H. aulicum and a hybrid of H.
Johnsoni and H. vittatum; recalling that H. John-
soni itself is the offspring of the progenitors of H.
reginae and H. vittatum. The questions of cousin-
ship involved in such a union are much too com-
plex to interest anyone but the antiquarian.

At all events they need not be untangled by
the plant developer. For him it suffices to recall
the names and characteristics of the various
species and to concern himself with such selections
among their offspring as will produce races
blending these characteristics in new and desir-
able combinations.

[86]

ON THE AMARYLLIS

But, indeed, the experiment became even more
complex as it proceeded to additional stages.

For by this time I was in possession of several
other species of amaryllis, and these also were
worked into the combination by hybridizing with
different members of the fourth-generation
hybrids already introduced.

The new species would be crossed with various
of the hybrids to accentuate certain qualities of
size of flower or color or prolific bearing; and the
new hybrids thus produced would in turn be inter-
bred, until the tangled web of their heredity was
quite beyond unravelling.

GETTING RESULTS

But at each stage of such a series of experi-
ments the plant developer of course watches for
results and is guided by results.

He has learned by this time of the tendencies
to variation that exist. He has gained a clear idea
as to the various new races that he hopes to
develop. And he is able, through selection of
plants for his new matings, and through selection
among the seedlings of the ones from which to
save seeds, to direct the currents of heredity into
desired channels.

As I have elsewhere phrased it, the plant
experimenter becomes an effective part of the
environment. He becomes the most important

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ON THE AMARYLLIS

agent in that process of selective breeding through
which the evolution of new forms of plant life is
brought about.

In the present instance, the tendency to varia-
tion that was manifested from the outset, was
accentuated generation after generation until,
after about twelve years of work, I had a colony
of mixed hybrids showing wide departures from
any of the ancestral forms.

Some of the new forms had very large bulbs,
and grew plants of exceptional strength, bearing
blossoms of unusual size.

I had, of course, selected for strong stalks,
broad leaves, and abundant bearing and for rapid
production of bulbs and ready growth, as well as
for large flowers with wide petals of brilliant
colors.

The original species had usually borne small
bulbs, and put out only two or three offset bulbs
in a season.

The bulbs of the new hybrids sometimes weigh
more than six pounds.

The stalks that grow from them are of corre-
spondingly increasing size and strength. And
instead of putting out three or four new bulbs in
a season, these hybrids sometimes multiply so
rapidly as to produce a bulb every month, and in
the case of some forms a new bulb every week.

[89]

LUTHER BURBANK

That is to say, the most prolific species will
produce fifty new bulbs in a year, instead of the
three or four of the original species.

In point of prolific bearing, there is a corre-
sponding contrast. The original species had sel-
dom more than two or three stalks to a bulb, with
four or five flowers in a cluster.

The new varieties often produce four or five
stalks to a bulb, where they have remained in the
ground for a few seasons, with as many as twelve
flowers to the stem.

The enhanced fecundity of the new forms is
supplemented by their tendency to early bearing.
They will sometimes bloom the second year from
the seed, and on the average they bloom in three
or four years. The old forms sometimes require
six or eight years to come to maturity. As Prof.
De Vries has said, I have pretty nearly cut in half
the time from seed to blossom in the amaryilis.

But of course the most conspicuous contrast of
all is in the flowers themselves. In the original
species, the largest flowers seldom attain a diam-
eter of more than five or six inches. The new
giant species, as already stated, often produce
flowers that are ten inches or even more in
diameter.

There is considerable variation even in the
same race, dependent in part on the size of the

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bulb from which the individual stalks grow. This
should always be understood by persons who grow
the amaryllis. A bulb that has been ill-treated in
its first year, and has not attained large size, will
not produce a large flower, even though it have
the hereditary factors for large blooming.

To produce the largest flowers, we must give
the plant a full supply of nourishment, and thus
develop a large bulb. The gigantic flowers appear
only on stalks that grow from gigantic bulbs.

But of course no conditions of nourishment
and no amount of forcing can produce bulbs or
flowers of gigantic size unless the hereditary
strains have been properly blended. And this
blending, as I have just pointed out, involved years
of experiment, and the bringing together of the
traits of many different species.

I had experimented with the amaryllis for
about fourteen years before I obtained varieties
that seemed worthy of introduction. And the new
giant varieties are the product of many additional
years of experimentation.

The variety introduced under the name Pro-
fusion several years ago was at that time the most
abundant bloomer known. Its blossoms were
also relatively large, and it had many points to
commend it.

But the races that have been developed more

[92]

A Burbank Amaryllis

This is one of Mr. Burbank's giant amarnllises (reallg a
Ilippeastrum). produced by hybridizing various species. JA
plants have been extensively hybridized for more than a hundred
and aZZ the varieties now under cul-
tivation are crossbred.

years,

LUTHER BURBANK

recently, through the further blending of heredi-
tary strains, excel this markedly in every regard.
Indeed, the newest acquisition to the ranks of the
Giant amaryllis have advanced surprisingly upon
their recent forebears.

And when the gigantic ten-inch trumpet of the
new variety is put beside even the largest flowers
of the remote ancestral type, the contrast is so
striking as to seem to suggest things of a quite
different order.

STILL WIDER HYBRIDIZATIONS

Having reached something like the limits of
variation attainable through hybridization of the
different species of Hippeastrum, I extended the
experiments by crossing the new amaryllis hybrids
with plants of other allied genera, notably with
Sprekelia and Crinum.

The Sprekelia is represented by a single species
indigenous to Mexico and sometimes called the
Jacobean lily. It has long, slender, strap-shaped
leaves, and a showy crimson flower of an unusual
form that suggests a bird in flight.

I have worked on the Sprekelia more or less
for twenty years, raising probably a hundred thou-
sand seedlings. But I succeeded only once in
hybridizing the plant, with the production of fer-
tile offspring.

The hybrid amaryllis that made union with the

[94]

ON THE AMARYLLIS

Jacobean lily was my new vittalum type, having
pale red flowers striped with white. Only a single
hybrid of this union bloomed, but from this a
number of seedlings were grown.

The hybrid offspring of these plants of differ-
ent genera had long, narrow, strap-shaped leaves
much like those of Sprekelia (the pollen parent),
but the blossoms were very much larger than those
of that plant, and they had very curiously twisted
petals, unlike those of either parent.

As might be expected in the offspring of plants
so widely separated, the hybrids were almost in-
fertile. As already noted, only a single variety
bore blossoms, and although the blossoms were
produced almost continuously throughout the
summer, there was seldom any seed, and it was
with difficulty that I succeeded in raising seven or
eight seedlings.

In a more recent year, however, I succeeded in
hybridizing many blossoms of Sprekelia with the
pollen of an improved hybrid Hippeastrum, and
secured about 800 seedlings which showed the
characteristics of the other hybrids obtained by
the reciprocal cross of the same species. The sec-
ond generation hybrids, and also those of the third
generation, showed a strong tendency to revert
back to the giant hybrid species of amaryllis,
rather than toward natural species.

[95]

Yet Another Burbank Amaryllis

When Mr. Burbank's amaryllis experiments were at their
height, his colony of these plants was regarded as the finest to
be teen anywhere in the world. Some of his hybrids took on gigantic
growth, producing flowers almost twelve inches in diam-
eter. They made a gorgeous display in blossoming time.

ON THE AMARYLLIS

The bulbous plants of the genus Crinum appear
to be somewhat closely related to the Hippeas-
trums. There are two species known as Crinum
moorei and C. longiflora that grow in Northern
California, and there are numerous other species,
some of which are evergreens.

I have grown about twenty species, some of
them of tropical origin. Numerous crosses were
made among these species until I had a crossbred
strain of Crinums of ancestry as complex as that
of my Hippeastrums. The seed parent of a larger
proportion of the hybrids was the species known
as Crinum Americanum, but a few were grown
from the seed of C. Anabilis and C. Asiatica.

In the various crosses, the traits of the species
of temperate zones appeared to be prepotent or
dominant.

Interesting hybrids were produced by crossing
the Crinums, not with the members of the Hip-
peastrum colony (this proving impossible), but
with the form of true amaryllis known as
Amaryllis belladona.

The hybrids thus produced were a very curious
lot. They seemed undecided whether to take on
the flat, strap-shaped leaves of the amaryllis or
the tunicate leaves of the other parent. The com-
promise led to the production of a leaf with a long
curious neck.

[97]

LUTHER BURBANK

The flowers, like the plants themselves, may be
described as a balanced combination of the quali-
ties of the two parents. They are smaller than
the flowers of the amaryllis, and more tubular,
and in color they vary from the white of the male
parent to the deepest rosy crimson, light pink
being the most common color. The flowers of the
amaryllis vary from rosy pink to crimson.

Although the hybrids bloom somewhat abun-
dantly, they never produce a seed. The hybrid
plants may of course be propagated indefinitely
from the bulbs, constituting thus a permanent vari-
ety. But they evidence the wide gap between their
parents in that they are sterile.
A LOOK AHEAD

It will be obvious from all this that the colony
of amaryllis plants, with its hybrids of intricate
lineage, involving not only many species, but four
genera, is a collection of plants of altogether
exceptional interest.

From a mere horticultural standpoint, it is con-
sidered by experts to be the best collection of
amaryllis in the world. Not only has this colony
the greatest diversity of forms but the most
extraordinary individual plants.

Experts of both Europe and America who have
visited my grounds are agreed in pronouncing my
galaxies of amaryllis far superior to any to be

[98]

A Double Amaryllis

Among the almost numberless variations that occurred
among the specimens in Mr. Burbank's hybrid amaryllis colony
were some that produced double rows of petals. Here is one thai
might readily become the progenitor of a race of amaryllis in
which the petals altogether take the place of the repro-
ductive organs, as is the case with some varieties of
double roses and dahlias. Even at the pres-
ent stage, this is an interesting anomaly.

LUTHER BURBANK

seen elsewhere, not only in size but in rapid multi-
plication and general effectiveness.

As with any plant colony that has been brought
to such a degree of variability, with only relative
fixation of many new combinations of characters,
there are possibilities of further development that
can only be realized in later generations. The
number of new combinations that might be made
among the complex hybrids of different types is
quite beyond computation. But it may safely be
predicted that some of these combinations will
produce results even more striking than any
hitherto attained.

As an inkling of some of the expected develop-
ments that as yet are only at their beginnings, I
may add there is among my plants one that bears
a sixteen-petaled flower, and which is otherwise
exceedingly handsome. This did not breed true as
to the production of excess petals, but there is
little doubt that by selective breeding it will be
possible to produce a double amaryllis which will
be an entire novelty.

In the matter of hardiness also, there is oppor-
tunity for great improvement. My amaryllii
plants are grown out of doors, the seedlings beinj
started in the greenhouse in boxes very much a!
other bulbous plants are started, but not in a hi{
temperature. There is opportunity, however,

[100]

ON THE AMARYLLIS

increase their hardiness by selection, or by cross-
ing with some hardier species.

It is true that the hybrids of Crinum and Ama-
ryllis have hitherto been sterile, but there is reason
to hope that other combinations might be found
that would produce fertile offspring.

These and such like developments, however,
await the experiments of future seasons and future
experimenters. But, even as it stands, the colony
of bulbs of the amaryllis and its allies constitutes
one of the most interesting groups of plants any-
where to be found.

— // no ten-foot giant has ever
appeared, it is probably not so
much because the human race
does not have the potentialities
of producing such a specimen,
but that experiments in select-
ive breeding of men for the
quality of size, comparable to
the hybridizations that pro-
duced the giant amaryllis, have
never been carried out
during a series of generations.

A Shirley Poppy Variation

The Shirley poppy is a flower developed within recent
years by an English clergyman, who found a solitary flower of
the scarlet corn poppy that had a very narrow edge of white. By
selective breeding he produced the poppies of many colors
now familiar under the name of Shirley. The speci-
men here shown illustrates the tendency of the
flower to take on new color variations.

BRINGING FORTH AN ENTIRELY

NEW COLOR

AND OTHER IMPORTANT WORK WITH THE POPPIES

FOR some reason blue is not a favorite color
among flowers.
There are notable and conspicuous ex-
ceptions, of course, but for every species of blue
flower in nature there are hundreds of flowers
that are yellow, or red, or white.

Presumably the color blue does not attract the
eye of the insect so strikingly as do the other pri-
mary colors. Flowers are not green for the obvi-
ous reason that, since leaves in general are green,
flowers of that color would blend with the foliage,
and thus defeat the primal purpose of the floral
envelope.

And, no doubt, blue is a color nearer to green
in its hue or general aspect than are the reds and
yellows.

So it is perhaps not surprising that natural
selection has weeded out the blue flowers and

[VOLUME IX— CHAPTER IV]

LUTHER BURBANK

given us an abundance of red and yellow and
white ones.

Of course, there may be some underlying rea-
son associated with the chemical character of the
different pigments that helps to account for the
relative scarcity of blue flowers. But, as to this,
no one at present has any definite knowledge, for
the chemistry of the pigments, and the underlying
differences between the pigments of different
colors, in the petals of flowers are very little
understood.

But, whatever the explanation, the fact of the
scarcity of blue flowers is patent enough. Where
a flower has adopted the blue pigment, it may
hold to it tenaciously. But, on the other hand,
there are thousands of blossoms that show great
variation in color, ranging through the various
tones of scarlet and crimson and pink and orange
and yellow, apparently quite without discrimina-
tion, yet avoiding blues of every type.
A BLUE POPPY

Conspicuous among the flowers that show this
wide range of variation in color, and yet never by
any chance have been known to produce a blue
flower in the state of nature, is the familiar Poppy.

So the production of a blue poppy in my gar-
dens, through a long series of selective experi-
ments, may be considered one of the most striking

[104]

Another Shirley Poppy Variation

The Shirley poppy differs from its wild progenitor in
that it has varied from the original red color to a pale pink and
even to a pure white; and in particular in having lost the black
central portion of the flower that is so characteristic in the wild corn
poppy. The true Shirleys are characterized by the entire absence of
black — they have not the smallest fleck of it about them. But
the mixture of color-factors in their germ plasm is re-
vealed in the striking tendency to variation in un-
predictable directions, of which this speci-
men gives a good illustration.

LUTHER BURBANK

of the minor plant developments accomplished
there. There is no record of a true blue poppy
ever having been produced elsewhere.

The blue poppies bloom toward the last of May
or early in June each year, furnishing a spectacle
that never fails to excite the interest of visiting
florists.

The story of the production of the blue poppy
is a comparatively simple one as to its chief out-
lines. That is to say, the work that was directed
exclusively to the production of a flower with this
color was carried out without any complications
of hybridizing, solely as a problem in selection.

A measure of success was attained in the course
of five or six years after the problem had definitely
presented itself.

But, on the other hand, it should be explained
that the specific idea of developing a blue poppy
came only as a sequel to a long series of very
arduous experiments in selective breeding through
which the ancestral stock that finally produced
the blue poppy had been developed. And it is
more than probable that the preliminary experi-
ments, although aimed at quite different purposes,
were absolutely essential to the segregation of
hereditary factors in the plants of my poppy col-
ony that made possible the final development of
the flower with the anomalous color.

[106]

ON POPPIES

Therefore, it will be necessary, as preliminary
to a specific account of the quest of the blue poppy
itself, to give somewhat in detail the story of the
development of the ancestral strains of poppies of
varied but more usual colors.

ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEY POPPY

The poppy from which the blue flower was
developed is of the variety known as the Shirley
poppy.

This is one of the most interesting and beau-
tiful varieties of the species Papaver Rhoeas, the
corn poppy of Europe.

The peculiarity of the Shirley in which it dif-
fers from the wild form of field poppy is that it
varies in color from the original red to a pale pink
and even to a pure white; and that the original
black central portion of the flower has been
changed to yellow or white. The last-named char-
acters are the distinctive ones. The true Shirleys
never have the smallest particle of black about
them. They may be scarlet or pink or white or
variously flecked. But they have no black about
them, and they were never yellow, until pale yel-
low and pale orange shades have recently arisen.

This beautiful variety gains enhanced interest
when we learn that it was developed as recently
as about the year 1880, in the garden of an English
clergyman, the Rev. W. Wilks, through a series of

[107]

Yet Another Shirley

Once a flower manifests a tendency to vary, there seems
to be no limit to the range of its variations. It would be hard
to say just what combination of hereditary factors in the germ plasm
of the original Shirley led to its peculiar departure from the tradi-
tions of its tribe. But man's selective judgment enabled these
submerged color factors to make themselves manifest,
as they doubtless would not have done without his
aid; with the result that a strikingly mod-
ified flower was produced in the
course of a few generations.

ON POPPIES

selective experiments of precisely the character so
often illustrated in the course of our present
studies.

It appears that Mr. Wilks discovered in a field
of the corn poppy of the usual scarlet color, a soli-
tary flower that had a very narrow edge of white.
He marked this flower, saved the seed of it, and
the next year carefully watched the seedlings. Out
of perhaps two hundred he found four or five on
which all the flowers were edged with white.

The best of these were marked, and their seed-
lings were selected from in turn.

In successive years a large proportion of the
flowers gained an increasing proportion of white
to tone down the red, until they arrived at a quite
pale pink, and finally one plant was found that
was pure white.

The attempt was then made by similar selec-
tion to change the black central portion of the
flower to yellow or white, and in due course this
also was accomplished.

The new strain being fixed by selection, the
Shirley poppy, which has come to be one of the
most popular of flowers, was given to the world.

It appears, then, that the Shirley poppy is a
variety that has been specially selected within
comparatively recent years, with an eye to the
one problem of color modification. It therefore

[109]

LUTHER BURBANK

represents a strain of plants in which there is a
curious mingling of hereditary factors for color.
It is a fixed variety, at once recognizable, yet the
different flowers that resemble each other to the
point of approximate identity as to form and
botanical features may be scarlet or pink or white
or variegated, and all these colors may be repre-
sented in the plants grown from a single lot of
seed, and sometimes in a single individual flower.

Even as to the matter of the black center which
characterizes the original corn poppy, the Shirley
shows a tendency to reversion. Now and again
flowers appear that have black spots at the base
of the petals. These, however, are rigidly excluded
by the florists in selecting seed.

Other marks of tendency to variation in the
Shirley are the uncertain length of the stem, which
may be very short or very long, and a propensity
to doubling of the petals, which is regarded as a
defect. Moreover, there is sometimes manifested
a tendency to a crimson hue that is regarded as
reversional, and has to be eliminated by the care-
ful flower grower.

PERFECTING THE SHIRLEY POPPY

All these marks of a tendency to variation,
together with a history of the development of the
flower, marked the Shirley as a plant suitable for
further experimentation. So about twenty years

[110]

A Santa Rosa Shirley

A flower with such tendency to vary as the Shirley poppy

has manifested naturally appealed to Mr. Burbank. He has ex-

perimented very widely with this variety of poppy, and has modified

it very markedly, particularly with reference to the texture of

its petals. By rigid selection among many thousands of

specimens, conducted year after year, Mr. Burbank

has so modified and improved the Shirley

that seedsmen usually sell his varieties

as the Improved Shirley poppy,

or the Santa Rosa strain of

the Shirley poppy.

LUTHER BURBANK

ago, at a time when the Shirley was a compara-
tively new flower, I commenced a series of experi-
ments with this variety, securing seed from every
available source.

I was somewhat astonished and disappointed
to find that, in spite of the diversified color scheme
of this flower, there was a very striking uniformity
among the plants produced from various lots of
seed. Everywhere there was a strong tendency
to revert to the original scarlet color, but other-
wise the colors were relatively fixed. Attention
was chiefly attracted to the form of the petals,
however, which seemed rather lacking in grace-
fulness, being too flat and without character.

With the thought of modifying the petal and
thus beautifying the flower, I commenced the most
rigid selection, choosing the first year only four or
five plants out of many thousands, and from the
progeny of these reselecting from season to season.

I chose the flowers that showed the lighter
shades of scarlet, crimson, and pink, and those
that were altogether white.

Attention was given also to the selection of
large flowers, and in particular to those that had
the most delicate petals, but firmness of texture
and any suggestion of waviness was joyfully
welcomed.

For many years I kept up this selection, rais-

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LUTHER BURBANK

ing large quantities of poppies, and having the aid
of four or five men in scrutinizing all the flowers
in the field for an hour or two each morning dur-
ing the blooming time, that no specimens showing
favorable variation should be overlooked.

At first the progress was very slow. It was easy
to find specimens that were semi-double and those
that showed the black spots. But there was very
slight tendency to crimping of the petals.

As usual in such cases, however, there came a
time when progress seemed much more rapid.

Thenceforward the work was encouraging and
full of interest, and in a few years more a most
beautiful strain of poppies had been produced
which presented almost in ideal combination the
various qualities for which I had been selecting.
Those that were not pure white showed an aston-
ishing variety and a beautiful blending of the more
delicate shades of red and pink.

The plants were graceful in form and of uni-
form height, and, most important of all, the petals
of the flowers were of the thinness and almost of
the texture of tissue paper, yet of firm texture,
and artistically waved and crinkled, in strong con-
trast with the smooth petals of the original
varieties.

This plant was introduced through a prominent
seedsman as an "Improved Strain of Shirley

[114]

ON POPPIES

Poppy," and later when still further improved as
the "Santa Rosa Strain of the Shirley Poppy." The
modifications are so striking that various horti-
culturists have suggested that the plant is entitled
to rank as a new variety. But I preferred to rec-
ognize the variety from which the new plant had
been developed by retaining its name.
COMING OF THE BLUE POPPY

It has repeatedly been observed that no flower
or fruit is or can be developed beyond possibility
of further improvement. However closely a new
form may approximate the ideal at which the
plant developer aimed there are always variations
that suggest new possibilities that perhaps were
not contemplated at the outset of the experiment.

And the improved Shirley poppy was no excep-
tion to this rule. As work continued with the new
flower, the form of its petals modified until
they were exquisitely delicate, and its colors
blended until the most artistic and delicate shades
were predominant, attention was attracted one
day to a specimen growing among the thousands
that revealed a color a shade different from any
other previously seen.

On inspecting this flower I seemed to detect,
underlying the normal color, a smokiness sugges-
tive of a half-concealed blue pigmentation.

Naturally this was carefully guarded and the

[115]

A Characteristic Specimen

This picture gives a very good idea of the characteristic

texture of petals in the Burbank improved Shirley poppy. Mr.

Bnrbank says that the plant did not at first respond to his efforts, but

that after a few seasons it progressed very rapidly. When the

experiment was at its height he had several men in the

fields every morning during the time of blooming,

on the lookout for the slightest variation

in the desired direction.

ON POPPIES

seeds of this plant preserved and sowed by them-
selves the following season to make the basis of a
quite different series of selective experiments.

The history of this new colony duplicated that
of other groups of plants undergoing selection.
Year by year I found an increasing proportion of
flowers with the smoky hue, and always among
these a few that revealed the obscure blue pigment
a little more clearly.

Finally, after several years of selection, I had a
strain in which about one-third of the plants bore
flowers of various shades of blue, some smoky or
seemingly mixed with black pigment, and others
with fairly clear, if not very bright, blue color.

The few flowers that were pure blues were nat-
urally selected to continue the experiment. But
their seedlings for the most part failed to repro-
duce the color.

Selecting year by year, however, among the
individuals that produced flowers of the purest
blue, the strain was gradually fixed until each
year a plot of poppies appeared that, seen from a
little distance, presented the aspect of uniform
blueness. This, of course, is the patch referred to
as exciting the astonished comment of florists that
visit my grounds at Santa Rosa about the first of
June each season.

On closer inspection of the plot of blue flowers,

[117]

LUTHER BURBANK

it will be found that there are still a good many
specimens that tend to revert to the more familiar
colors. But the effort to establish the blue variety
as a fixed type through inbreeding and selection
is still under way, and success is assured.

Were the poppy a plant that is propagated by
root cuttings or any other of the common modes
of division, the blue variety would long since have
been given to the world. But as it is necessary
with this plant to develop the variety until it will
breed true from seed, I have been obliged to con-
tinue the experiment at least ten years longer than
would otherwise have been necessary.

Now, however, it may fairly be said that the
experiment has approached completion. The blue
poppy is an accomplished fact. Its production
constitutes one of the most striking color modifica-
tions hitherto made through artificial selection.
CREATION OR REVERSION?

So far as is known, there was never an ancestor
of the Shirley poppy that was blue. So here we
have an illustration of an experiment that is rad-
ically different from any that we hitherto have
had occasion to examine.

We may suppose, to be sure, that the condition
of blue pigment is one that occurred in some very
remote ancestor of the new poppy. Otherwise we
could not account for the presence of the heredi-

[118]

A Double Red Shirley Poppy

The general appearance of this flower would scarcely
cause one to associate it with the flowers shown in the preced-
ing pictures. But it is only a Shirley poppy modified in yet another
direction. Like the other modifications in the form and
color of the Shirley, this condition of double petals
has been developed by selective breeding along
the lines elsewhere clearly explained.

LUTHER BURBANK

tary factors of blue pigmentation; and obviously
it is not to be supposed that our experiment in
selection resulted in the creation of new hereditary
factors.

But the time at which any ancestor of the pop-
pies bore blue flowers must have been very remote
indeed, because no poppy either of the species
directly in question or any other species has ever
been found anywhere in the world that has a
flower of blue color.

So, as just suggested, the bringing out of this
color constitutes a development of radically dif-
ferent character from the mere modification of
color of a flower within the range of the color
scheme of a species, or of allied species, or even
of allied genera.

The development of a Shirley poppy that is
yellow, for example, which was a second task that
a German experimenter set himself, would be com-
paratively easy, because yellow is a more common
color with members of the poppy family, and a
tinge of yellow is not unusual.

I have myself developed and introduced strains
of Shirley poppies of salmon or deep yellowish
pink color. These include various shades of
salmon and light scarlet, but with no trace of
crimson or of darker colors of any kind.

This flower, which had been selected also for

[120]

ON POPPIES

size and crimping of petals and gracefulness, as
well as for color, was introduced under the name
of "Burbank's Sunset Shades of Shirley Poppies."

But I mention this new variety only to point
the contrast. No such amount of work was
involved in its production as that which attended
the production of the blue poppy, because yellow
pigments are in the heredity of the poppies in
general, and must have been manifested among
the ancestors of any given strain of poppy within
relatively recent times.

The affinity between the yellow and red, for
example, in the case of the poppy, is clearly
enough demonstrated in the experiment, outlined
in an earlier chapter, in which I developed a race
of crimson California poppies (Eschscholzia), the
parent species being, as is well-known, bright yel-
low in color. It will be recalled that the new
crimson flower was developed by selection through
successive generations from a specimen that
showed a little line of crimson, like a streak or
thread of another color, lengthwise of a single
petal.

California poppies of various other colors were
developed in the same way, but there were no blue
ones among them.

In the case of these California poppies, then,
the relative ease with which the flowers were

[121]

A Double White Shirley

One thinks of red as the characteristic poppy color, — por-

ticularly if one has seen the poppy growing in an English

grain field. But the modified Shirley has been caused to give up its

red color, as we have seen; and this picture shows that the

white ones, no less than the red, have been induced to

produce a multiplicity of petals of greatly modified

form and texture. The modification was

brought about through selections made

in connection with the other

lines of improvement of

the Shirley poppy.

ON POPPIES

changed from yellow to crimson would seem to
suggest that the latter color lies but slightly sub-
merged, if the expression be permitted, in the
hereditary stream, ready to come to the surface
if the thin overlaying current of yellow can be
removed.

Another illustration of the linking of yellow
and crimson in the hereditary scheme of the pop-
pies is given by an experiment in which I crossed
two distinct species of poppy, one having flowers
of pale yellow, the other pure white.

The hybrids without exception bore flowers of
a clear crimson color. There was not a white one
nor a yellow one among them.

Another interesting color modification in the
case of the poppy was that which produced the
so-called silver lining poppy. In this case I dis-
covered a flower in which there was a white line
between the black center and the crimson petal.
This line was widened by selection until the petal
was white with black center, the white extending
just over the outer edge of the petal, the rest of the
back of the flower being crimson.

It may be interesting to recall in this connection
a series of experiments in which the only true
California poppy (Papaver Calif ornica) was mod-
ified by selection, working with a live petaled
sport, until a variety was produced that had six

[123]

LUTHER BURBANK

petals. The size of the flower was also improved
by selection; but the color of the original — a pale
orange — refused to budge.

Yet another poppy modification of interest was
that through which the Iceland poppy was devel-
oped until its seed capsules had fifty-six prolifera-
tions instead of the original one.

THE VARYING DOMINANCE OF COLORS

The story of the color variation in poppies, as
illustrated in the development of the Shirley and
its modifications, and in the selective and hybrid-
izing experiments just related, furnishes fairly
tangible evidence that the scheme of pigmentation
of a flower is of somewhat less fixed or fundamen-
tal character than the various characteristics of
form and leaf-system and breadth and arrange-
ment of petals and stems and ovules, that are
depended upon by the botanist in determining
plant relationships.

The fact that a certain flower, for example,
may vary in color from bright scarlet to pure
white, and from salmon to blue, while still retain-
ing the botanical characteristics that would lead
any florist to classify it as a Shirley poppy, in
itself demonstrates the comparative unimportance
of any particular color in the scheme of plant
economy.

There may be special conditions that make a

[124]

Contrasting Colors

No phase of flower development has greater interest for
the average amateur than that having to do with the modifica-
tion of color. A bed of Shirley poppies like the ones here shown,
would give opportunity for an endless variety of experiments in

selective breeding. Any amateur may work with the flower.

LUTHER BURBANK

red flower fit into its environment a little better
than a yellow flower, or vice versa; but either red
flowers or yellow ones or pink ones or white will
attract the insects, and thus fulfill the purpose for
which color in the flower has been developed.

That, doubtless, explains why it is relatively
easy to modify the color of a flower, within cer-
tain limits, and — what amounts to saying the same
thing — why the same species of flower may so often
be found presenting different colors or shades of
color in different localities, or under slightly vary-
ing conditions of cultivation. But perhaps the
chief interest of the entire matter of the coloration
of flowers, and specifically the chief interest of
such a development as that of the blue poppy, is
found in the suggestions given as to the underlying
principles of heredity involved in color transfor-
mations.

It would seem as if we are justified in conclud-
ing from the evidence that the hereditary factors
for the production of many different pigments are
mingled in the germ plasm of any given species of
flowering plant.

If one color predominates over another in the
flower, it is because its pigment is dominant over
other pigments, and the study of color dominance
furnishes interesting side lights on the question of
the hereditary transmission of unit characters.

[126]

ON POPPIES

In the animal world, for example, where the
study of the heredity of color has been carried out
pretty extensively in recent years, there are inter-
esting combinations showing a somewhat more
complex character than any that we have hitherto
examined. We have seen that in the case of the
guinea pigs black pigment is dominant to white,
so that when a black guinea pig is mated with a
white one the offspring are black, but the recessive
trait of whiteness reappears in one in four of the
progeny of the second generation.

But it appears that in these animals, and sim-
ilar ones that are subject to wide varation of color,
there are curious complexities of heredity, all of
which, however, so far as studied, fall within the
scheme of "Mendelian" transmission.

Thus it is found that in the case of mice, for
example, whereas blackness of coat is dominant
over whiteness, just as in the case of the guinea
pigs' blackness itself may be overlaid, as it were,
and entirely obscured by the presence of factors
for gray coating, and it further appears that
yellow pigment may dominate the gray coat as
well as the black.

A further complication occurs in that an animal
that is neither yellow nor gray nor black may be
chocolate in color. And it is only in case this
color also is absent that the mouse will be white.

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ON POPPIES

Moreover, if the factors for chocolate are
absent, the factors for grayness and blackness may
neutralize each other, and exist in what is called
a masked condition, neither one being able to
make itself manifest on account of the presence
of the other, because both are dominant factors;
so that the mouse will be white, yet will carry the
factors for grayness and for blackness masked in
its germ plasm.

When the chocolate factors are present, how-
ever, in addition to the factors for blackness and
grayness, the presence of three dominant color
factors has the curious effect of enabling one of
them, in this case gray, to make itself manifest.

So the chocolate factor is necessary to produce
a gray mouse; and the chocolate colored mouse
will appear only when the factors for grayness
and blackness are absent.

This rivalry of dominant color factors, with
subordination of one to another, even though both
are dominant over whiteness, has previously been
briefly referred to, and it has been noted that, for
convenience in describing the condition, biologists
have come to speak of a factor that thus subordi-
nates another, in the sense in which gray subordi-
nates black in the coat of the mouse, as epistatic;
the subordinated color factor (in this case black)
being said to be hypostatic.

[129]

LUTHER BURBANK

These terms are of obvious convenience, being
somewhat parallel in their application to the Men-
delian terms dominance and recessiveness, yet
being quite distinct, as we have seen, inasmuch as
they apply to the relations of factors that are both
dominant, yet which refer to the same quality and
hence cannot both prevail.

MIXED FACTORS IN THE POPPY

Our studies of inheritance of color in the pop-
pies suggest that closely similar relations exist
among the pigments of the flowers.

The exact relations of reds and yellows and
pinks and blues have not been carefully worked
out on a comprehensive scale, as have been the
pigment-relations of the coats of mice and rabbits.
But the evidence seems to suggest that the rela-
tions of red and yellow, for example, in the case
of the poppy, are somewhat comparable to the
relations of gray and black in the coat of the
mouse.

That is to say, both of these are dominant to
white, but one of them is epistatic to the other.

It is probable that red is superior in dominance,
or epistatic, to yellow, and hence that a poppy will
be yellow in color only when the factor for red
pigment is either absent or masked.

The experiments that led to the production of
the blue poppy suggest the possibility that blue

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LUTHER BURBANK

pigment may occupy some such place in the
scheme of coloration of the poppy as that occupied
by the chocolate color in the scheme of the mouse's
coat. In that case, a poppy would be blue only in
case the color factors for red and yellow were both
absent. And a poppy would be white only in case
the color factor for blue was absent, although there
might be present color factors for both yellow and
red in the condition of equilibrium which we have
spoken of as masked. A dingy white flower might
contain a trace of blue.

This supposition might explain the case of the
yellow poppies crossed with the white ones, in
which the hybrid offspring were all crimson in
color. The hybridizing in this case may be sup-
posed to have brought together latent or masked
factors for red (present in the white flower), the
mating of which gave that color dominance, and
enabled it to assert itself, while the yellow fac-
tors were unable to assert themselves, yellow being
hypostatic to red.

Suppose, for example, that the yellow poppy
bore factors for yellow and blue; and the white
one, factors for red and yellow. The combination
would bring together red, plus yellow, plus blue;
and red would be manifest, the other colors being
masked. Re-combinations should be expected in
the next generation.

[132]

ON POPPIES

But the actual conditions are probably a little
more complex even than here suggested. The
smoky character of the blue poppies, especially in
their earlier forms, seemed to suggest the presence
of a factor for blackness. And, indeed, the fact
that black pigment constantly tends to appear in
the poppies shows how potent an influence this is.
So, when the entire hereditary color scheme of the
poppies is untangled, it will probably be found
that there are dominant factors for red and yellow
and black and blue corresponding more or less to
the yellow and gray and black and chocolate pig-
ments of the coat of the mouse; and that these are
mutually dependent on one another in an intricate
fashion, the full explication of which would give
us a far clearer comprehension of the mysteries
of the color transformation in the poppy and in
other flowers than anyone can claim to have at
present.

It is because of the new light they throw on
this problem that experiments that led to the pro-
duction of a blue poppy seem to have unusual
interest and importance. But long series of addi-
tional experiments involving much expense and
many discouragements will be necessary before
the exact relations of the different pigments in the
poppy, or in any other flower, will be fully
understood.

[133]

Shasta Daisy and One of Its Parents

The Shasta daisy is a new species developed by Mr. Bur-
bank through the combination of the strains of a European
daisy, an American daisy, and a Japanese daisy. A typical Shasta
daisy is here shown, together with a specimen of the
American ox-eye daisy, one of its progenitors.

A DAISY WHICH RIVALS
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM

AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN DAISIES

THE story of the origin of the Shasta daisy
was told in an earlier volume.
It will be recalled that this new flower,
differing so widely in size and form and appear-
ance from any daisy hitherto known, is in effect
a new species produced by the combination of
three species (and a fourth variety) that came
respectively from Europe, from the eastern United
States, and from Japan.

The long series of experiments through which
the European and American species were first
hybridized, and the Japanese species subsequently
brought into the combination, followed by new
crossings and selections season after season
through a long term of years, has been told in
detail. Here it seems desirable to refer to more
recent modifications of the Shasta, giving some
specific hints as to its cultivation, and to review

[VOLUME IX — CHAPTER V]

LUTHER BURBANK

the work done with certain other daisy-like plants
— to which also reference was made in an earlier
volume — with particular reference to the interpre-
tation of the results accomplished, in the light of
the new information supplied us by observation
of other series of experiments.

First a few words as to the progress of the
Shasta daisy, which, as we have learned, not only
constitutes virtually a new species, but has given
rise to a great variety of modified forms, all of
them Shasta daisies, yet differing as markedly
among themselves (in form at least) as, for exam-
ple, different races of roses or poppies or dahlias
differ.

The racial strains of the three original parent
species have been so recompounded, and, as re-
gards their broader outlines, so truly fixed in the
new species, that no one who sees a Shasta daisy
can fail to recognize it as a Shasta — just as we
recognize a rose or a poppy or a dahlia — even
though the particular specimen under observation
differs very radically as to size and form and ar-
rangement of petals from anyone of the half dozen
varieties that may be under observation at the
same time.

And the meaning of all this has been made
clear to us in our studies of other forms. The
separation of unit characters through hybridizing

[136]

Graceful of Flower and Stem

In developing the remarkable Shasta daisy, Mr. Burbank
did not confine himself to observation of any single character,
but took into consideration at all times not only the flower itself, but
also the stem and the manner of growth. Through rigid selec-
tion, in connection with the hybridizing experiments, he
produced a flower that is peculiarly graceful both
as to blossom and as to form and man-
ner of growth of stem.

LUTHER BURBANK

different species, and the recombining of these
characters in the offspring of the second genera-
tion and subsequent generations, which is so viv-
idly illustrated in the case of the Shasta, has been
illustrated also in scores of other cases, until the
principle involved has become so clear and obvi-
ous that no one is likely to overlook it.

So, as I said, it is not necessary here to recapit-
ulate the details of the series of hybridizing experi-
ments through which the Shasta daisy was evolved.
We shall be concerned with a few practical details
as to the cultivation of a plant which is making
its way into gardens everywhere, and which is
sure to increase in popularity as the years go by.
SPREAD OF THE SHASTA

Probably no flower ever introduced has been
more thoroughly appreciated and more rapidly
and widely disseminated than the Shasta daisy.
Owing to its hardiness, it can be grown anywhere
from Alaska to Patagonia, and it requires almost
no attention, except a biennial division of the
clumps into numerous small plants, each piece of
which will soon make a vigorous new clump.

It is now widely grown throughout both tem-
perate zones, and is rapidly becoming popular as
a park and garden plant. It is greatly in demand
for interior decorations, partly because its cut
blossoms will last fully two weeks, whereas those

[138]

ON DAISIES

of dahlias, roses, and lilies usually become quite
unsightly after two or three days.

Under no circumstances should the Shasta
daisy be grown from seed, unless it be for the pur-
pose of producing new varieties. No one would
raise Chinese or Japanese chrysanthemums, roses,
or carnations from seed, and hope to obtain the
beautiful forms and colors peculiar to the selected
plants. Strains produced by hybridizing vary
more or less; upon this, of course, depends their
chief value to the gardener who wishes to produce
new varieties; but from the very fact of their
mixed heritage these plants will not breed true
from seed.

But they are readily propagated in any desired
quantity from the root of the mother plant.

Reference has been made to the double forms
that have appeared among the seedlings. Some of
these bloom so freely as to destroy the vitality of
the plants, unless some of the buds are removed.
Other varieties have appeared with long, slender,
lacinate rays, giving the blossoms a soft, feathery
appearance; others still with curious twisted ray-
flowers, or with long, tubular, or drooping ones,
or those that are curled inward and upward, pro-
ducing beautiful, cup-shaped blossoms; and all
these in double form like roses, carnations or
dahlias.

[139]

I 111,

ON DAISIES

All these curious forms can be reproduced
indefinitely by division, but not one time in ten
thousand can the best ones as yet be reproduced
from seed.

PRACTICAL HINTS AS TO CULTURE

The Shasta daisy, though an exceptionally
hardy plant, is, to a certain extent, sensitive to the
conditions of its environment, and in order to
secure the most thrifty plants and the most attrac-
tive blossoms it is necessary to follow certain
rather definite rules of culture. The best results
follow a division of the plants about every third
year. If it is desired to develop strong, vigorous
plants from the start, the old plants should not be
allowed to bloom, else the cuttings taken from
them will possess but scant reserve vitality.

The plants should be divided into pieces as
small as possible, care being taken to leave a bud
and a few leaves and roots attached to the cutting,
though the roots may be omitted, provided the
shoots are properly treated. The long slender
leaves should be cut back about one-half their
length, so that they do not take too much moisture
before the roots develop. After rinsing the cut-
tings in cold water they should be closely planted
in a bed of sifted sand, indoors or out, according
to climatic conditions.

In order to settle the soil around the cuttings,

[141]

LUTHER BURBANK

they should be drenched with water, and a uni-
formly moderate supply of moisture should be
maintained.

If these instructions are followed, even the
smallest, most unpromising cutting may develop
into superior plants. When the slips are strongly
rooted, they should be placed in a sunny place in
rows eighteen inches to two feet one way by three
or four feet the other. They should be thoroughly
watered and treated like other garden plants.
During July, August, and September each of the
original cuttings should bear from twenty-five to
fifty large, beautiful white blossoms. During the
second season the best varieties should produce
from one hundred to two hundred blossoms, meas-
uring ordinarily from three to six inches in
diameter.

For the production of new varieties, Shasta
daisy seed may be sown thickly in boxes of sandy
soil or in out-of-door beds in California. If the
seeds are those from the improved varieties, the
resulting seedlings will bloom the first season,
although the older varieties did not bloom till the
second season, and then not as abundantly as these
do the first. But the seedlings will form a motley
company, many of them reverting to ancestral
forms and departing widely from the characteris-
tics that have made the fame of the Shasta daisy.

[142]

A Freak Daisy

The tendency to variation induced in the progenitors of
the Shasta daisy through hybridization, is manifested in a.
great variety of ways. Here is a specimen in which the ray flowers
are multiplied in number, and some of them curiously altered
in form. Such a specimen as this might become the pro-
genitor of an altogether double Shasta, the ray
flowers gradually supplanting the seed-bear-
ing organs at the center of the flower.

LUTHER BURBANK

But might we not by careful selection fix the
Shasta as a form that would breed true from the
seed?

COULD THE SHASTA BE FIXED?

The question is one that is not without practical
interest. For there is obvious convenience in being
able to grow an ornamental plant from the seed,
even though it be possible to propagate it indefi-
nitely by division. A small package of seeds may
be shipped far more readily than roots or entire
plants, and no doubt a large number of people
will grow a plant from the seed who will not take
the trouble to transplant roots or work from
cuttings.

So, as I say, the question as to the possibility
of fixing the Shasta is not without practical impor-
tance. But the question also has a theoretical in-
terest in connection with the general problems of
the plant developer as applied not merely to this
species but to many others.

Our studies of many forms of plant life have
taught us that the cultivated varieties of flowers,
and of fruits and of vegetables as well, are so
complex as to their heredities that — except in the
case of certain annuals — they do not breed true
from the seed, and are not habitually propagated
in that way. Yet, on the other hand, we have seen
that it is possible to fix new races by careful selec-

[144]

ON DAISIES

tion, and the principles according to which the
experimenter works in effecting such fixation have
been pointed out again and again.

Making application of the knowledge thus
gained to the case of the Shasta daisy, we need
have no hesitancy in asserting that it would be
possible to fix races of this plant so that they
would reproduce their type with approximately
the certainty from the seed as do, for example,
the original parent forms from which they spring.
But this task is as unnecessary as would be the
task of fixing roses, carnations, or chrysan-
themums.

If inquiry is made as to the length of time
required to effect such fixation of type, the answer
can be given with a fair degree of certainty. Work-
ing along usual lines, by selecting the best speci-
mens in a large company and in the successive
year the best specimens among their progeny —
extending, in other words, the method of selection
through which the new races were originated — it
would probably require from six to ten genera-
tions of selection to make sure of securing a speci-
men from the germ plasm of which disturbing
hereditary factors had been eliminated by selec-
tion so that the factors that remain are those that
produce the qualities that we desire to retain.

But if it were feasible to devote the space and

[145]

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ON DAISIES

time to an experiment of a somewhat modified
character, it would be possible, in all probability,
to fix the type of any given race of Shasta daisies
in a single generation and, after another genera-
tion to test the result, to secure seed that would
reproduce plants duplicating the parent form as
closely as offspring ever duplicate their parents.

The practical manner of working through
which this more rapid fixation of type would be
effected would consist in selecting among a large
company of seedlings grown from seed of a single
typical plant the individuals that represent the
parent form most closely. There are sure to be
some of these among the thousands. These, indeed,
are the ones that would be selected in any event
by the experimenter who was planning to fix a
type.

Let the seed of each individual plant of these
type specimens be sown in a separate plot; and in
due course isolate each seedling so that each indi-
vidual plant is self-fertilized. We shall then find
that among the offspring of each plant there is
the utmost diversity, but it will appear, in the next
generation, that there are some plants that breed
true to type and others precisely similar in appear-
ance that produce diversified offspring. In other
words, the practical method of isolating each indi-
vidual through two generations would enable us

[147]

LUTHER BURBANK

to determine which ones have in their germ plasm
only the factors that we desire to see perpetuated
and which others have the mixed factors that we
wish to see eliminated.

The suggested manner of selecting by isolation
of individuals merely enables us to go more
directly to the goal. It does not differ in principle
from the ordinary method of selection. But the
isolation of each individual, so that its traits may
be separately tested, enables us to reach the result
in two years, instead of requiring perhaps from
six to ten years.

It will be recalled that it was through the appli-
cation of this method that Prof. Biffen was enabled
to isolate and fix his new race of wheat that is
immune to rust in the third generation. But it
must be recalled that Prof. Biffen was working
with only a few hereditary factors or characteris-
tics and that he was also working with a plant
that is self-fertilized.

To follow out the principle in the case of a
plant like the Shasta daisy, in which a large num-
ber of hereditary factors are under consideration,
would involve the handling of very much larger
numbers of seedlings. And the fact that these
must be isolated not merely in location but must
also be guarded against cross-fertilization intro-
duces a further complication.

[148]

ON DAISIES

So it will be only an experimenter with plenty
of time on his hands who could undertake to fix
the type of the Shasta daisy by this rapid method.
The experimenter who has numberless other
plants to consider at the same time would be
obliged to content himself with the older method,
selecting, generation after generation, the individ-
uals that came truest to type, and preserving their
seed only from which to grow seedlings for another
selection next season. But this method, while
lacking the precision of the other, has served
admirably well in a multitude of cases, some of
which we have seen illustrated in recent chapters.

So the experimenter who wishes to fix a race
of Shasta daisies may with confidence go about
the work along precisely the same lines that were
used, for example, in the production of the wild
heuchera with crinkled leaves — the method, for
that matter, through which the races of Shastas
were themselves developed after hybridization
had supplied the material for selection.
COLORED DAISIES

It will be recalled that final hybridization
through which the Shasta daisy was produced
was made chiefly with an eye to the removal of
the last tinge of duskiness and a greenish yellow
shade that is more or less present in all white
flowers, leaving a flower of snowy whiteness.

[149]

Semi-Double Shastas

Here are some Shastas in which the tendency to increase

of ray flowers shown in an earlier picture has been accentuated

through selection, until comparatively little of the central seedbearing

portion of the flower remains. Contrast this flower with the

little ox-eye, as showing vividly the changes that may

be wrought in a flower in the course of a few

generations of selective breeding.

ON DAISIES

It will be understood, also, that lhis quality of
whiteness characterizes all the new races of Shas-
tas — except one that has been bred for yellowness.
The number of florets and their arrangement and
form and size have been modified indefinitely, but
these modifications do not in any way affect the
color, except in case of one that showed a ten-
dency toward yellow, and from this numerous
yellow varieties, single and double, were devel-
oped. This color, however, fades in sunlight, and
blanches in a few days. Aside from this, all Shasta
daisies are characterized by their snowy whiteness.
The improved varieties rival the variously modi-
fied chrysanthemums in size and form and in flex-
ibility of florets; but they do not imitate the
chrysanthemums as to variety of color.

Possibly some varieties of Shasta may be modi-
fied in other directions as to color. One already
shows pink on the outside of the ray flowers. One
was found last year (1913) that had a faint shade
of pink, and seed was saved. A pink Shasta daisy
is therefore in prospect.

There are other varieties of daisies, however,
that show color variation. The whiteness of the
ox-eye daisies both of Europe and America, and
of the French marguerites, seems so typical that
at first thought it appears anomalous that any
daisy should depart from the traditional color.

[151]

LUTHER BURBANK

But, on the other hand, our studies of flowers
have shown us that color is the least fixed char-
acteristic of the floral envelope, and, reasoning
from analogy, it would be rather surprising if
there were not races of daisies, more or less closely
related to the parents of the Shasta, that have
colored blossoms.

In point of fact, the Paris daisy has one lemon
yellow variety; and there is a so-called daisy indig-
enous to South Africa, but for a good while culti-
vated in Europe, that has blossoms of a rather
brilliant orange. This so-called African daisy,
however, is not very closely related to the true
daisies. The reader will recall a chapter of the
first volume in which the story of this flower is
told. It will be recalled that there is a closely
allied species of daisy from the same region of
South Africa that differs from the orange one
chiefly in the fact that it is pure white.

It will further be recalled that when these two
species, the orange and the white, have been hy-
bridized in Europe, the hybrid offspring shows an
astonishing diversity of color.

Not only oranges and yellows of many shades,
but shades of purple and red also appear. It was
by selection among the red hybrids, as will be
recalled, that a so-called African daisy of a beau-
tiful and uniform pink color was developed.

[152]

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LUTHER BURBANK

It will further be recalled that among the
hybrids were some which showed, on the backs of
their petals, streaks of purple, showing that fac-
tors for blue color, as well as factors for yellow
and red, are present.

The interest of this experiment, as a mere illus-
tration of a new race developed by hybridization,
is not inconsiderable. But the chief interest of the
experiment centers about the production of new
colors which appeared to be alien to the hereditary
traditions of the African tribe.

Properly interpreted, the facts brought to light
by these experiments fall in line with a large num-
ber of observations having to do with the colors
of flowers, and give intimations of an interpreta-
tion of the entire subject of floral coloration.

In attempting to interpret the facts, we should
bear in mind what was learned in the preceding
chapter as to the variable coloration of the pop-
pies, and we shall have occasion to draw other
illustrations from plants of a good many different
types. We have found reason to believe that most
flowers owe their color to a mingling of pigments,
or at all events have in their hereditary strains
the factors for many different colors, somewhat
as even the purest tones on the canvas of the
painter are usually the result of the blending of
diverse pigments.

[154]

ON DAISIES

We shall find reason to believe that even the
white flower is not as a rule white because it lacks
the factors for color pigmentation, but because it
mingles these factors in such a way that they
mutually antagonize, or neutralize, or "mask" one
another.

In this view, then, the production of a pink
African daisy through the hybridizing of an orange
and a white one may be regarded not as an anom-
alous phenomenon but as a typical one — albeit the
experiment has a good measure of interest none
the less.

VARIATION OF COLOR IN FLOWERS

The fact of color variation in the flowers is,
as just stated, too obvious to escape notice of the
least observant. A good many people, however,
are unaware of the wide range of variation shown
among wild species.

It is sometimes assumed that color variation is
due to the cultivation of plants; and, of course it
is true that cultivation has resulted in developing
races of flowers of diversified colors. But it is not
to be supposed that these colors could have been
developed in the short period during which the
plants have been under cultivation had not the
materials for color variation been present in the
various hereditary strains.

And it requires but the briefest search among

[155]

Bouquet of Freak Daisies

We have learned through observation of many examples

that when a flower or plant once begins to vary, it may continue

to vary almost indefinitely. Here is an illustration of a new departure

on the part of the Shasta daisy, in which the "petals" take on

a very curious form. It has interest as a freak rather

than because of its beauty, but the variety is worthy

of further attention, to see what may be its

limits of variation in this direction.

ON DAISIES

wild flowers to show that color variation is by no
means exceptional, but is, on the other hand, quite
the rule here, even as among cultivated species.
With a wild species, to be sure, there is usually
preponderance of one color or another, because
natural selection tends constantly to fix or accen-
tuate one character and to minimize or eliminate
another. In some respects the guide marks on the
flower seem as important as the color itself.

But that even under natural conditions it may
not make a vast difference to the plant whether
its advertising floral envelope, to attract the atten-
tion of insects, is of one color or another, is sug-
gested by the frequency with which we find plants
of the same species putting forth flowers widely
different in hue.

Let me cite a few instances, taken quite at
random. They will suggest the extent to which
one color may do service for another in the same
species; suggesting also the probability that hered-
itary factors for all the colors manifested by dif-
ferent specimens of a species are well represented,
at least in a latent condition, in the germ plasm
of all specimens of the species.

The nemophila, a common wild plant in Cali-
fornia, has flowers that are generally clear, pure,
skyblue, but this varies in different localities
through all shades to snow white. Pink varieties

[157]

LUTHER BURBANK

are occasionally seen. Sometimes also the blue
flowers are edged with white; and on occasion one
sees white flowers with a blue edging, and some-
times a shade of yellow.

The coast tree lupine, another wild plant, bears
spikes of brilliant yellow flowers. But these may
vary from lemon yellow to sulphur yellow, brown-
ish yellow, smoky yellow, redish, pale blue, yel-
lowish blue, dark blue, and pure white. Bright
yellow is the typical or usual color, and white is
quite rare. The other colors are not unusual,

The Limnanthus douglasii is a wild swamp
plant the flowers of which sometimes seem to
carpet the ground. The upright, bell-shaped flow-
ers are usually milk white. But I have received
specimens from the Sierras that were yellow.

The beard-tongue, a relative of digitalis, of the
species known as Pentstemon barbatus, has flow-
ers that vary from scarlet to almost pure yellow
and white.

The crimson clarkia and the bluebell have
flowers the colors of which are indicated by their
respective names; but both on occasion produce
blossoms that are pure white. Everyone knows
that the heliotrope, the lilac, and the violet, among
cultivated flowers, are often represented by white
forms — and the violet by other colors. The same
is true of the whitelaria, the typical flowers of

[158]

Clusters of Pentstemons

The pentstemons are exceedingly hardy and thrifty flow-
ers of which there are many native species, as well as a good
many foreign ones. There is a wide range of form and color so that
the flower is a particularly attractive one for the
experiments of the plant developer.

LUTHER BURBANK

which are also blue, and of the trailing myrtle,
the characteristic blue flowers of which are some-
times modified to crimson and to white.

The gillias may show in the same patch
flowers of the deepest crimson, others that are
pale rosy crimson, yet others that are pink, and
numerous ones that are pure white.

These examples of variation in different
flowers of the same species may be supplemented
by mention of the curious flower known as cyno-
glossum, of the borage family, the flowers of which
are blue in color until they are fertilized, then
becoming deep red. Somewhat similar are the
color changes of one of my new varieties of poppy,
which vary from day to day. And this phenome-
non of changing color while still retaining fresh-
ness may be linked with the observation that
nearly all flowers change in color after they pass
maturity, losing their brilliancy as they wither,
and ultimately taking on altogether modified hues.

With these illustrative cases of the varied
coloration of flowers in mind — and of course the
list might be extended indefinitely — it no longer
seems strange that our orange and white African
daisies have the potentialities of a pink daisy in
their hereditary strains. There is every reason to
suppose that the two African daisies are descended
from the same original form. It is probable that

[160]

ON DAISIES

the existing differences in their colors are due to
somewhat recent modifications.

Possibly the orange African daisy grew in the
open, where it was subjected to the influence of
sunlight; and the white daisy in a woodland or
marsh where it was much in the shadow.

It is a general observation that shade loving
plants, like those that open their flowers in the
twilight or at night, tend to produce white flowers
or at most those dressed in light and pale colors;
whereas the blues and oranges and reds are worn
principally by flowers that grow in the open and
put forth their advertisement for insects in the
sunlight.

So we may reasonably suppose that the white
African daisy owes its present color to the influ-
ence of natural selection, and that it had among
its ancestors plants that bore colored flowers. In
any event, the orange African daisy has pigments
of its own, without invoking the aid of ancestors,
and their orange color shows that there are ele-
ments of red mixed with the yellow. These
elements, sorted out through hybridization, suffi-
ciently account for the pink progeny.

But among the hybrids of the yellow and white
African daisies, in addition to the pink ones, are
numbers that are yellow; and, in about equal pro-
portion, others that are white. These white indi-

[161]

LUTHER BURBANK

viduals closely resemble their white parent; yet,
as one of their parents was the orange daisy, it is
obvious that they have in their germ plasm factors
for yellow pigment, even though these are not
revealed.

These hybrids, notwithstanding the strain of
yellow in their germ plasm, are as white to all
outward appearance as their white parent; a fact
which, taken by itself, sufficiently demonstrates
that the white parent itself may have the sub-
merged factors for pigment in its germ plasm.

In point of fact, it appears to be sufficiently
established that white flowers may be white not
because they altogether lack hereditary factors for
pigmentation, but for the paradoxical reason that
they possess these factors in superabundance.

We saw in our discussion of the colors of the
poppy that there is reason to believe that two
dominant colors, grouped together, may neutralize
or mask each other and produce no tangible char-
acter.

If we revert to an illustration used in another
connection, in which we imagined that elfin archi-
tects are at work in the germinal nucleus, match-
ing up the different hereditary factors to build a
new organism, we may suppose that occasions
arise when there is a superabundance of material
(in the case under consideration, let us say, ma-

[162]

A Bed of Pentstemons

course Mr. Burbank has experimented

variety as a border plant.

LUTHER BURBANK

terials for both yellow blossoms and red blossoms),
and that in such a case the architects might agree
on a compromise in which neither yellow nor red
pigment is used, the flower being allowed to
remain white.

We saw evidence that there are such latent
color factors in flowers in such a case as that of
the yellow poppy that when matched with a white
one produced a galaxy of crimson poppies. The
case of our orange African daisy mated with a
white one is a variant on the same theme.

And the illustration just cited of the different
cases in which flowers of the same species have
blossoms that may run the gamut of colors from
scarlet through yellow to blue, or may lack pig-
ment altogether, shows how common is the phe-
nomenon of the mixture of factors for different
colors in the same germ plasm.

We shall perhaps not be far wrong if we
assume that every colored flower has underlying
potentialities of other colors than the one repre-
sented. And there is a good deal of evidence to
suggest that yellow underlies red and is dominated-
by it when there is a mixture of different factors;
that blue, lying toward the other end of the pris-
matic scale, stands rather by itself and in a way
opposed to the other colors; and that white, as just
suggested, may represent either the absence of

[164]

ON DAISIES

factors for pigmentation or the presence of two or
more conflicting pigments that neutralize each
other.

In another connection we shall discuss a theory
as to the way in which the various colors, as
utilized by the flowers, were introduced, and the
significance of their various blendings.

— We shall find reason to
believe that even the white
flower is nott as a rule, white
because it lacks the factors
for color pigmentation, but
because it mingles these fac-
tors in such a way that they
mutually antagonize, or neu-
tralize, or mask one another.

A Contrast in Gladioli

Mr. Burbank has devoted an exceptional amount of time

to the development of the gladiolus, and the results attained

have been very striking. He has used many varieties in crossbreeding

experiments. This picture shows a contrast between one of the

original varieties and a cluster of its improved descendants.

MAKING THE GLADIOLUS
SURPASS ITSELF

TEACHING THE PLANT NEW HABITS

THE history of the growth of ideas shows
some curious paradoxes. As a minor
illustration in point, it may be recalled that
an English clergyman was doing his best — and a
very good best it was — to build up evidence of the
mutability of natural species at a time when it was
rankest heresy to suggest that species are mutable.

The clergyman in question was the Honorable
and Reverend Dr. William Herbert, Dean of Man-
chester. His work was carried out in the early
decades of the nineteenth century. He was a horti-
culturist of great skill, and he labored assiduously
with many plants. And among those with which
he attained conspicuous and striking results that
seemed to belie the botanical beliefs of the period,
was the plant now familiar in every garden as the
Gladiolus.

The time when the important work of this

[VOLUME IX — CHAPTER VI]

LUTHER BURBANK

clerical amateur was carried out was one in which
such men as Erasmus Darwin, the poet Goethe,
and the French biologist Lamarck were advocating
the idea of the mutability of species. And no
doubt the Rev. Herbert had some of their theories
in mind as he went about his plant experiments in
the gardens of the Manchester Deanery.

Yet in the main he was probably quite uncon-
scious of the full significance of the experiments
that he was performing.

The particular experiments that are of interest
to us in the present connection are those in which
he hybridized one species of Gladiolus with
another, and in so doing not only produced new
races of gladiolus, but proved to his own satisfac-
tion that these new races were altogether fertile.

Almost half a century later Charles Darwin in
his "Origin of Species" had occasion to quote the
opinion of the Rev. Herbert, based on his experi-
ences with this flower and several others, to the
effect that hybrids are not necessarily sterile — a
point that was still ardently in debate. He even
cites Herbert as having claimed that the hybrids
gained in fertility over the original species — a fact
which Herbert himself regarded as being "a
strange truth", but regarding which Darwin, writ-
ing with fuller knowledge, asserts that it was by
no means so strange as it would appear.

[168]

A European Hybrid Gladiolus

For many years European horticulturists have experi-
mented with the various gladioli, hybridizing them extensively.
Here is one of the European hybrids, which has been used by Mr.
Burbank in further breeding experiments.

LUTHER BURBANK

To be sure, nothing revolutionary came directly
from the reverend horticulturist's experiments.
He produced interesting new varieties of flowers,
but the theoretical bearings of his work were
doubtless quite ignored by his fellow clergymen,
and, indeed, as I have already suggested, were
probably only vaguely realized by himself.

Yet as we look back on this work now, from
the new point of vantage that Darwin gave us, we
can see that the work of this amateur horticul-
turist must have had its share in disturbing the
ideas of at least some of the persons to whose
attention it came, and in preparing the way for the
new view of the flexibility of species that now
seems so much a matter of course that we can
hardly realize how revolutionary it seemed to
our forebears of two generations ago.

A demonstration made with a plant that grows
in everybody's garden, has force that comes home
to us more cogently than records of any number
of observations of animals and plants of tropical
forests and South Sea archipelagoes. And a num-
ber of new species of plants, gladioli among others,
that the Dean of Manchester created by hybridiz-
ing old ones made their way into the gardens of
Europe, and gave their message, we may be sure,
here and there to a receptive mind in substantia-
tion of the disputed evolutionary doctrine, which,

[170]

An Improved Gladiolus

In Mr. Burbank's experiments with the development of

the gladiolus many points were to be considered, as is the case

With most flowers. Here are specimens that show the result of efforts

to broaden the petals, and give them firmness of texture.

LUTHER BURBANK

even before the publication of Darwin's "Origin
of Species", was exciting the interest of the
thoughtful.

OTHER GLADIOLUS HYBRIDS

Before the gladiolus made its full conquest of
the popular gardens, however, it was further im-
proved by other gardeners, both in England and
in continental Europe.

The species that the Rev. Herbert had crossed
were the showy Gladiolus cardinalis and the
smaller but more free-flowering Gladiolus blandus.
Subsequently he crossed a number of other species,
and produced races of great beauty and fertility.
But a race produced by Mr. Colville at Chelsea in
1823, by fertilizing the form known as Gladiolus
cristis with the pollen of Gladiolus cardinalis
gained additional popularity.

It was not until 1837, however, that the form
was originated which was to make actual conquest
of gardens throughout Europe, and presently to
attain corresponding popularity even in America.
This new form which became the parent from
which most modern varieties of gladiolus have
been developed was raised in 1839 by M. Boding-
haus, gardener to the due d'Arenburg of Enghein.
Like the other hybridizers, he used Gladiolus car-
dinalis for one parent form, the other parent being
a species known as Gladiolus psittacinus.

[172]

j^gmmagMm— ——— —————.__— ~

Increased Size and Compact Growth

Another quality sought by Mr. Burbank in the develop-
ment of the gladiolus was the habit of compact growth on the
stem, so that the flowers should be solidly massed, instead of being
scattered along the stem. This specimen shows striking suc-
cess in this regard, as well as in the increased size and
symmetrical form of the flowers themselves.

LUTHER BURBANK

We have seen that the cardinalis was used by
the earlier hybridizers. It appears that the psit-
tacimus was also used in hybridizing experiments
by the Dean of Manchester. But either he did not
make the precise cross that was now made by the
Belgian gardener, or the strains he used were
somewhat variant; for the hybrid now produced
had qualities that gave it a new appeal to flower
lovers in general, and in particular made it a
flower of such easy cultivation and such striking
appearance as to make a strong bid for popularity
among amateurs.

It gained such vogue as to be thought of every-
where not only as a distinct species but as repre-
senting a type form of the race of gladioli. It
was named Gandavensis, from Gand (Ghent), the
place of its origin.

It is believed, however, that the form of gladio-
lus that came to be known everywhere as the
Gandavensis has in its racial strains the blood of
many other species beside the original parents. It
is almost certain, for example, that the strain of
G. oppositiflorus accounts for the modifications of
form and for the introduction of a tendency to
produce white flowers; and that strains of G. blan-
dus and G. ramosus have also been introduced.

In a word, the form of gladiolus that came to
be familiar everywhere under the name Ganda-

[174]

ON THE GLADIOLUS

vensis is not merely a hybrid, but a hybrid that
probably carries the racial strains of at least four
or five species, and possibly of a good many more
than that.

All of which is essential to an understanding of
the later developments of the race of gladioli.

For when we come to investigate the pedigrees
of the chief races of gladiolus that are now found
in our gardens, we learn that, practically without
exception, they are hybrids that carry the Ganda-
vensis strain among others, and hence are multiple
hybrids, the precise lineage of which is too intri-
cate for tracing.

It is this fact that accounts for the wide range
of variation as to form and color that characterizes
the gladioli of our gardens. For the hybrid races
have practically supplanted the original species
everywhere.

The same thing is of course largely true of most
other cultivated flowers, and it is altogether true
of the cultivated fruits and vegetables. As regards
a large proportion of these, the cultivated varieties
have not only supplanted the original species but
no definite record remains of the original species
themselves. The case of the gladiolus differs, and
gains added interest, in that the original species
were brought from Southern Africa to Europe only
a little more than a century ago. The develop-

[175]

ON THE GLADIOLUS

ment of the new hybrid races under cultivation,
and the elimination of the parent forms by their
improved descendants, has taken place in so com-
paratively short a time that its chief steps are
matter of record, as we have seen.

So the story of the gladiolus has elements of
educational interest for the plant developer that
are quite lacking in many of the cultivated plants
which attained relative perfection at an earlier
period.

EARLY WORK AT SANTA ROSA

There are a few species of gladiolus that are
native to Europe and Asia, but the ones that were
chiefly used by the early hybridizers came from
South Africa, as already related.

Doubtless this fact was not without significance
in determining the results of the work of the early
cultivators. We have seen illustrated more than
once the effect of transplanting a plant to new
soils, and in particular of transporting it from one
hemisphere to the other.

We cannot doubt, then, that the change in the
seasons and in the soils and climatic conditions in
general had a share in promoting the variability
of the gladiolus when brought to Europe, although,
as we have seen, the tangible stimulus to variation
was given through the now familiar method of
hybridization.

[177]

LUTHER BURBANK

And, by the same token, we may suppose that
when the gladiolus was finally brought to Cali-
fornia, shifted thus half way 'round the globe
from its new home in Europe, there was an added
stimulus given, urging the plant to still further
modifications of habit, and supplying yet other
elements of variation with which the plant devel-
oper might work.

At all events the gladioli in my gardens at
Santa Rosa and Sebastopol have proved responsive
and adaptable. And further modifications have
been produced in the much modified flower that
add greatly to the value of what was from the out-
set one of the most popular of ornamental plants.

I began work with the gladiolus about the year
1882, starting with the Gandavensis hybrid, the
origin of which has already been described.

At that time there was no great interest taken
in America in growing gladiolus seedlings, but I
was able to secure a large number of the best types
of Gandavensis, and also obtained bulbs of about
a dozen of the natural species.

I obtained my material not alone from Ameri-
can growers and the cultivators of Europe, but also
directly from South Africa.

I began from the outset to experiment on a
comprehensive scale, raising the gladioli by the
half acre and acre on my Sebastopol place. The

[178]

A Graceful Variant

The gladioli of this cluster have departed rather strikingly

from the traditions of their tribe, as to arrangement of the

flowers along the stem. But there is something strikingly attractive

about the manner of clustering adopted by this variety, and

we may feel sure that this specimen will be among

those selected and allowed to go to seed, in

the interests of future generations.

LUTHER BURBANK

first fault observed in the seedling gladiolus was
that the blooms would not stand our California
sunshine.

Under the glare of the California sun, the
blooms would wither in a single day, sometimes in
a single hour.

Other serious defects were that the stalks were
too slender, and the flowers too far apart on the
stalk. Moreover, the flowers were small, they were
illy arranged on the stalks, giving an untidy
appearance to the plants; and often they were
only half open when at their best.

The colors of many varieties, on the other
hand, were fine, it being evident that selection had
been made largely for color, by some at least of
the earlier experimenters. My first object, then,
was to remedy the defects just mentioned rather
than to modify the color of the gladioli. In partic-
ular I sought, while improving the stalks and the
arrangement of flowers on the stalks, to make the
petals of the individual blossoms stand out flat
and in regular sequence.

The work progressed along the lines of hybrid-
izing and selection with which the reader is
already familiar. I hybridized freely, introducing
strains of the long neglected natural species to
give added virility and stimulate still further vari-
ation, thus providing materials for selection.

[180]

ON THE GLADIOLUS

Growing the plants by the acre, I had abundant
material for choice, and my usual method of choos-
ing only a few of the very best representatives of
the different forms that seemed worth developing,
destroying the rest, was rigidly exercised.

I succeeded so well that in the course of a few
years there developed varieties which were intro-
duced with new names, and which made their way
everywhere, and were highly prized by gardeners
throughout the United States.

Doubtless the most interesting development in
this early period was the form named the Cali-
fornia. This was a really magnificent semi-double
variety which not only excelled in the form and
size and color of the individual blossoms, but
which had the added peculiarity of bearing the
blossoms all around the stalk like a hyacinth, in-
stead of merely on one side of the stalk as had
been customary with all other varieties of gladi-
olus.

Even at the present time, although the varieties
of gladiolus have been subject to rapid develop-
ment within the past few years, I recall the Cali-
fornia as one of the most beautiful flowers of the
family.

Unfortunately this plant was lost, probably by
freezing, along with the entire stock of other gladi-
oli, by an eastern dealer to whom it was sold.

[181]

Color Variation in Seedling Gladioli

Few Plants offer better opportunities than the gladioli for

studies of color variation. The original wild species differ

widely in this regard, and their crossbred descendants naturally show

striking combinations of colors. Plants grown from a single

lot of seeds may show such variation in flower

coloration as is here depicted.

ON THE GLADIOLUS

My gladiolus colony progressed admirably, and
the new forms attained a degree of virility that
made it no more difficult to raise them than to
raise potatoes; indeed, much less difficult, inas-
much as the gladiolus bulbs in California do not
require to be dug or stored, but continue their
growth throughout the year. The only object in
digging them is to divide and separate them for
multiplication.

The forms of the plants, and the manner of
bearing, as well as the shape and arrangement of
the blossoms, improved year by year, and the new
varieties of gladiolus came to be well-known to
dealers throughout the country, and were still
under process of development when an unexpected
complication put an end, for the time being, to
my further work with this plant.

WAR WITH THE GOPHER

The complication manifested itself in the dis-
covery that entire rows of the gladiolus bulbs had
been eaten by pocket-gophers, which had tunnelled
their way into the grounds, and, boring beneath
the gladiolus beds, had feasted on the bulbs, de-
stroying large numbers of them (mostly during the
dormant season) before I discovered the presence
of the marauders.

The plants do not wither at once even when
the bulbs are greatly injured, or in the dormant

[183]

LUTHER BURBANK

season totally destroyed. So long rows were
destroyed before I knew the necessity of combating
the enemy.

The attempts to exterminate the pests were at
first so unsuccessful that I presently decided to
give up the gladiolus colony altogether. I sold the
entire lot to an amateur Canadian horticulturist,
Mr. H. H. Groff, a banker, of Simcoe, Ontario, and
for a good many years my experiments with the
gladiolus were not renewed.

Meantime, every effort was made to extermi-
nate the pestiferous gophers, whose depredations
were of course not confined to the gladiolus, and
through which I suffered an annual loss of cer-
tainly not less than a thousand dollars year after
year.

Not alone with the gladiolus but with other
bulbs it seemed that the animals took special
delight in attacking the choicest plants. And the
question of their destruction became finally a very
urgent one.

Numerous methods of combating the pests
were tested. A double box trap set in gopher holes
was cumbersome and not very effective. An awk-
ward iron trap was supposed to catch the gopher
when he poked his nose against the trigger, but
missed fire or failed to score a hit oftener thai
otherwise. One form of trap after another w*

[184]

Sa-g'tl:!.*
VS"-**£S.
3SL3S.S §

5- g
3. *§
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LUTHER BURBANK

tried and given up. Attempts to smoke out the
animals proved ineffective, as the gopher instantly
builds a wall to shut out the smoke.

Bisulphid of carbon, which gives off a poison-
ous, heavy gas, was tested with equal lack of suc-
cess. About the only resource was the use of
poison, commonly called strychnin, placed on a
piece of apple, potato, or carrot, combined with the
use of a wire trap, in the hope that if one failed
the other might prove effective. But in spite of
all these methods the gophers multiplied, mostly
from neighboring fields, where their damage to
ordinary farm crops was not so marked. A few
years ago, however, a gopher gun was invented
that practically solved the problem. This consists
of a trap so arranged that when the gopher pokes
his nose against the trigger a charge of powder
explodes beneath the animal, killing him instantly
by concussion.

This device proved more effective than all
others. Sometimes 35 or 40 gophers were destroyed
in a day about the borders of my gardens. And
in a short time the gophers were so nearly exter-
minated that they ceased to be a pest.

When these old enemies of the bulbous plants
were thus finally subjugated, after years of effort,
I determined to take up again the cultivation
of the gladiolus.

[186]

A Burbank Giant Gladiolus

This is a variety selected for size of the individual flower,
rather than for arrangement of flowers on the stock. It illus-
trates the accentuation of size to about its limit, apparently, in the
case of the gladiolus. Like all of Mr. Burbank's improved
gladioli, this one is a very complicated hybrid.

LUTHER BURBANK

In the meantime, the gladiolus had been much
under cultivation elsewhere, and its general and
special qualities had been greatly improved.

But there remained plenty of modifications that
could be made to advantage, and in starting a new
series of experiments I had no difficulty in discov-
ering faults to be remedied.

RECENT WORK WITH THE GLADIOLUS

One of the modifications, to which reference
has already been made, had to do with the
arrangement of the flowers on the stalk. My suc-
cess in developing a race having the flowers
arranged on all sides of the stalks has already
been referred to. In taking up a new series of
experiments, I attempted to improve on the earlier
variety, by shortening the stems of the flowers, so
that they were compelled to arrange themselves
more compactly around the stem; by ensuring
regularity of placement; and by diversifying the
plant arrangement.

Some forms were developed having two ranks
of flowers, one on either side of the stem. Other
races were developed with flowers in four ranks;
yet others with the flowers in a spiral. Meantime
the individual blossoms were enlarged in size, and
their stems shortened, so that, when grown in a
spiral about the stem, they crowd one another,
making practically a solid mass of petals.

[188]

Massed on the Stem

Contrast the gladioli in this picture with the isolated
blossom shown in the preceding one. In the present case, selec-
tion has been carried out with an eye to improvement all along the
line, but notably with the thought of producing bunches of
gladioli that are solid masses of flowers. In many of
these improved varieties, the flowers grow in a
spiral about the stem, and make a solid
mass of blossoms, as here shown.

LUTHER BURBANK

The contrast in appearance of a stem of
gladiolus flowers arranged on this new plant with
the old form in which the blossoms grew only on
one side of the stem, or at most on opposite sides,
is very striking.

Attention was given also to the modifications
of the form of the individual flowers. In one
form, petals were developed that are broad and
ruffled so that they overlap, and thus give the
appearance of a double flower. In another form
the tendency of the anthers to turn to petals was
accentuated through selection until a double vari-
ety was produced; and in one or two cases the
extra petals were added without affecting the
natural organs.

In yet another form, and the one that I person-
ally admire most, two flowers appear to be fused
into one, so that twelve petals are presented in-
stead of six. The variety was fixed so that the
flowers on every stalk come in the same way,
constituting a double flower of an unusual type.

Particular attention was also paid to the
development of regularity of petal in the case of
the double gladiolus flowers. Irregularity of pet-
als may be attractive in such flowers as the rose
and the carnation, but with the gladiolus the
double blossoms are less beautiful than the single
ones, unless the petals are very regular. I experi-

[190]

The New Blue Gladiolus

The gladiolus, like the rose and the poppy, seems to avoid
the color blue. Mr. Burbank has succeeded, however, in bring-
ing out the submerged hereditary factors for blueness that exist in
this, as apparently in most other flowers. A long series
of experiments in hybridizing and selection was nec-
essary to produce this striking result.

LUTHER BURBANK

enced no great difficulty, however, in making the
petals regular, as well as increasing their number
by selection.

STUDIES IN COLOR

In the newer series of experiments, especial
heed was given, also, to the matter of color varia-
tion, seeking for clear and brilliant colors of vary-
ing shades. The blending of shades, and the
arrangement of lines, dots, and edges of different
color on the petals were all carefully taken into
account.

There is opportunity for skill in the blending of
different shades in a flower of such diversity of
color as the gladiolus, akin to the painter's skill in
mixing pigments.

One learns that there are certain combinations
that will produce disagreeable colors, whereas
others will result in new shades of exceptional
brilliancy.

The characteristics of each flower to be worked
into a hybridizing combination must be carefully
studied.

If, for example, we cross a yellow gladiolus
with a white one, we are likely to get a dingy
white that is by no means agreeable. The cross
of a pale pink with a white form is likely to give
us a still paler pink, which would not be regarded
as an improvement. Again, from the blending

[192]

A Moth-Like Gladiolus

Here is a Burbank hybrid gladiolus that has been made to

take on a rather curious form. Its broad, wide-spreading upper

petals, combined with the peculiar coloration of the lower ones, give

it a certain resemblance to a large moth in full flight. It is a

rather striking illustration of the possibility of modifying

the form of a flower of distinctly flxed type.

LUTHER BURBANK

of two nearly white strains, you may get dark
colors in unpredictable combinations.

By studying the combinations, however, and
making rigid selection among the seedlings, it will
be discovered that there are certain color tenden-
cies that tend to be dominant, and that, as a rule,
may be expected to repeat themselves in the hybrid
offspring, overshadowing the less fixed colors.
Still the races of gladioli are so blended, and the
color factors in their germ plasm so mixed, that
one may confidently expect to find new and inter-
esting combinations among any large lot of hybrid
seedlings.

Indeed, it is not necessary to make new crosses
in order to get interesting new types, since, as we
have seen, all cultivated races of gladiolus are
hybrids that carry many racial strains, and hence
manifest the tendency to vary that we have seen
everywhere manifested by hybrids in second and
later generations; the pioneer work having already
been accomplished with nearly all our cultivated
fruits and berries, and most cultivated flowers.

Nevertheless, it is of course possible to exert
a directive influence through selecting parents for
crossing, and further direction may be given by
selection among the seedlings for any given color
or combination of colors. So new races with
unique color combinations may readily develop,

[194]

A White Gladiolus

Most so-called white gladioli are not really white, as a compar-
ison with a pure while flower like the Watsonia would quickly re-
veal. By careful selection, however, Mr. Burbank has produced a
variety of gladiolus that is really white, as this picture testifies.

LUTHER BURBANK

and, even if these are not at once fixed, they
can of course be propagated indefinitely by bulb
multiplication. Here, as with other plants, all
forms grown from the offshoots of a bulb will
reproduce the qualities of the parent form, and a
new race may thus be spread indefinitely.

Notwithstanding the great diversity of colors
of the different hybrid races of gladiolus, there
have until recently been no gladioli that could
accurately be described as pure white.

Where so-called white varieties have appeared,
they have a dinginess that suggests the presence
of an underlying pigment; also there are spots,
stripes, or featherings of other colors, especially on
the lower petals. That the hereditary factors for
pigmentation are really present in these so-called
white flowers, is demonstrated by the fact, already
noted, that in crossing two of these we may pro-
duce varieties that bear colored flowers.

But the fact that these crosses of white gladioli
produce flowers showing a great diversity of color,
suggests obviously, the possibility of sorting out
among these offspring, in the second generation,
some that contain only the hereditary factors for
whiteness. I have made this attempt, and by rigid
selection have produced a race of white gladioli
which, when further perfected, will constitute, I
think, an interesting acquisition. Already these are

[196]

Symmetrical and Attractive

This is one of the Burbank gladioli that has been devel-
oped for general symmetry of form and all-round attractiveness.
The flowers are individually large, and their colors have great
brilliancy and purity.

LUTHER BURBANK

partially fixed, and other growers of gladioli have
observed the same fact.

Already the white gladioli breed fairly true,
and further selections, with reference to the per-
fection and fixation of the type, will give us a race
of white gladioli that is sure to meet the approval
of the public. But here as elsewhere there is danger
that in selecting for one quality other qualities will
be neglected, so that the flowers are not kept up to
their best standard.

Hitherto there has been no blue color in glad-
ioli, any more than in the poppy, except, perhaps,
submerged in combination with some of the
darker colors. And for this reason, it has been
found by all growers of the plants far more diffi-
cult to produce a blue flower than any other color,
and until quite recently nothing approaching the
really blue gladiolus had been produced.

The first blue ones introduced were in reality
more purple than blue. Nearly all hybrid varieties
have shown lines of bluishness or smoky blue at
times.

The first gladiolus that could really be called
blue was the one sent out from Europe under the
name of Hulot. This had a small flower, and in
other respects resembled the older gladioli — a dark
purplish blue in color. By crossing this with white
varieties of large size, pale blue with extra large

[198]

The Largest of Their Race

These Burbank gladioli have been developed to the full

limit of size, while retaining peculiarly attractive forms and

exceptionally beautiful colors. Note also the un~gladiolus-like or-

rangement of the flowers on the stalk.

LUTHER BURBANK

fine flowers were produced by me. Two years ago,
one appeared of very large size, and perfect in all
respects with a true blue color.

The crossing of the gladiolus presents no
difficulties. It is merely necessary to cover the
three-parted stigmas with pollen of the desired
parent so thickly that bees and humming-birds
cannot interfere with the experiment.

In working on a large scale, it is convenient to
place rows of different forms that one wishes to
hybridize side by side, so that pollen may be read-
ily transferred from one row to another, in walk-
ing along the rows, each forenoon when the stig-
mas are receptive. Also this arrangement allows
the hybridizing to be carried out by the humming-
birds which are always aids in the fertilization of
these tubular flowers. Here as in most other ex-
periments, I have found that the results of the
reciprocal cross are the same; it makes no differ-
ence which parent is the pollenate and which the
pistillate member. So the seed from the contigu-
ous rows of gladioli thus hybridized may be saved
in a single lot.

My experiments with a new strain of hybrid
gladioli have now progressed so far as to assure
the development of some greatly improved
varieties.

New crosses and rigid selection are giving

[200]

All Round the Stem

This is among the best of Mr. Burbank's improved varie-
ties of gladioli for general cultivation. It has in large measure
the good qualities of all the others, and is distinguished by the com-
pact spiral arrangement of the flowers, which entirely hide

the stem. This variety has well deserved popularity.

LUTHER BURBANK

larger flowers, brighter colors, more compact
stalks, and a tendency to multiply more rapidly
from the bulblets — and especially with greater
freedom from disease. The propensity to revert
toward the original type of the wild species-
small flowers, long slender stalks, closed blooms,
dull coloring, narrow leaves, and poor constitu-
tion— is being subordinated as the selection is
carried through successive generations.

And while there will be no metamorphosis in
the essential characteristics of this beautiful and
popular flower, further modifications of detail that
are of no small practical significance may confi-
dently be expected.

— We may well suppose that
when the Gladiolus was finally
brought to California, having
been shipped first from South
Africa to Europe and then
from Europe half way around
the globe, there was an added
stimulus, urging the plant to
still further modifications of
habit, and supplying yet other
elements of variation, such as
form the basis of all
plant development work.

EXPERIMENTING WITH
THE RESPONSIVE DAHLIA

AN INFINITY OF VARIATION WHICH HAS
ONLY BEEN TAPPED

IF you have seen a Navajo blanket you are
aware that the Indians of the Southwest are
lovers of vivid colors — in particular of glaring
reds.

It would appear that the insects of the same
region have acquired similar tastes; for they have
aided in the development of a good many flowers
that advertise their wares with the most brilliant
hues. The cactus furnishes a familiar instance.

Another example is supplied by the even more
familiar dahlia, which in its native Mexican form
had florets of bright red with a yellow center —
supplying the basis for the modified color schemes
of the dahlias now under cultivation everywhere.

The original red dahlia so attracted the eyes
of the Spanish conquerors in Mexico that they sent
the plant to Europe, and its reception there sug-
gests that barbarian and insect have no monopoly

[VOLUME IX— CHAPTER VII]

LUTHER BURBANK

of the color sense to which red appeals. For the
Mexican composite flower was taken into the
European gardens, and made to feel quite at home
in its new habitat.

The new exotic came, as a matter of course,
under the eye of the great classifier Linnaeus. And
he thought so highly of it that he was moved to
name it in honor of his friend and pupil, Dr.
Andreas Dahl. The great Swedish classifier spoke
with final authority in that day, and "Dahlia" the
plant became in all languages and wherever
grown — except, of course, in its native habitat;
and what it might be called there, if anything, did
not greatly concern the civilized world.

The scientific generic name Dahlia seemed to
serve as well as another for the popular name
also. So the name of the friend of Linnaeus has
been perpetuated as a household word, familiar
almost as the words rose or violet; but of course
the great majority of people who pronounce it give
no thought to its origin, and are quite unaware
that they are paying tribute to a man, and com-
memorating a friendship, when they speak of this
familiar garden flower.

So entirely has the origin of the word been
overlooked, indeed, that the name dahlia, which
should obviously be pronounced with the broad a,
is universally pronounced with the long a in Eng-

[204]

A Cluster of Dahlias

The upper right hand flower suggests the form of the

primitive wild dahlia, indigenous to Mexico. The other flowers

show modifications due to hybridization and selection, of which we

shall sec numerous other illustrations in succeeding pictures.

LUTHER BURBANK

land and with the short a in America, each branch
of the Anglo-Saxon race seemingly trying to get as
far away as possible, in different directions, from
the natural pronounciation suggested by the deri-
vation of the name, and its spelling — if indeed the
spelling of a word in our language can be said to
have any particular association with pronuncia-
tion.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAHLIA

All that, however, is of no great importance.
A dahlia by any other name or pronunciation
would be equally attractive. What is important is
that this flower, brought from its sub-tropical
home, proved wonderfully adaptable to its new
surroundings, and showed a responsiveness to
good treatment that presently transformed its gen-
eral appearance, and gave it secure place in the
group of three or four most popular flowers.

There are several species of dahlia, all natives
of Mexico or the regions a little farther south. But
the species that is chiefly responsible for the devel-
opment of the new races, or at any rate those that
first gained recognition in Europe, is one that be-
cause of its tendency to vary even in a state of
nature was named Dahlia variabilis.

This flower, which was introduced into England
in the year 1789 by the Marchioness of Bute, has
the general form of a very large daisy and it

[206]

ON THE DAHLIA

resembles numerous familiar wild sunflowerlike
composites, except that its floral envelope is dull
scarlet with a yellow center, instead of being yel-
low or white.

We have seen a good many illustrations of the
effect of transplanting a plant from one region to
another. The dahlia furnishes yet another ex-
ample. Brought from sub-tropical Mexico to the
relatively cold climate of England, it soon showed
the effects of altered climatic conditions. The
tendency to vary was accentuated, and when in
due course the plant was hybridized with other
species brought from the same region, the hybrids
took on such modifications as presently to produce
races of dahlias so utterly divergent from the
parent forms as to be almost unrecognizable.

Not even a botanist would associate the wild
composite with its eight flat florets of ordinary
shape and appearance, with the relatively gigan-
tic rose-shaped flower made up of an infinite num-
ber of tubular florets packed together into a solid
head.

The colors of the flower have been correspond-
ingly modified, although the original red and
yellow of varidbilis, together with the white and
crimson of certain other species, form the basis
of the coloration of all the cultivated varieties.

And as to size of stalk, whereas the original

[207]

ON THE DAHLIA

species rises to a height of seven or eight feet,
there are dwarfed cultivated races that are only
eighteen inches high.

In habit, there is a corresponding range of
variation, some cultivated species requiring a large
amount of moisture, whereas others thrive in a
dry soil. Even the seed is of altered shape, and
the time of blooming, which in the early part of
the nineteenth century was said to be from Sep-
tember to November, has been so extended that
some of the modified dwarfed forms are now in
full flower in June.

In quite recent years a type of dahlias has been
introduced in which the petals are less tubular but
have a typical and characteristic tapering form.
This is known as the cactus dahlia, partly because
of the shape of its flower, and partly because of its
brilliant scarlet color.

The original flower of this type was found in
Mexico about 1879, and was named Dahlia
Jiiarezii, after President Juarez, "the Washington
of Mexico." The precise origin of the plant is
unknown, but it is believed to be a variety of the
original Dahlia variabilis. In any event the new
type has been crossed with other races, and it now
appears, like the others, in practically all colors,
with the single exception of clear blue, this color
alone being seemingly unwelcome to flowers of

[209]

A Primitive Type of Dahlia

The wild dahlias are sunflower-like plants that scarcely

suggest the familiar cultivated dahlias of the flower garden. It

will be seen, however, that the primitive type here shown manifests a

tendency to variation in form of the "petals" (properly ray

flowers), suggesting possibilities of development.

ON THE DAHLIA

the tribe, just as it is to the poppies and the glad-
ioli, both of which tribes show a range of colora-
tion strikingly similar to that revealed by the
dahlias.

NEW FORMS AND COMBINATIONS

My own experiments with the dahlias have
largely had to do with flowers of the cactus type.

I have raised these by the hundred thousand,
and have produced some really fine forms that
have been introduced by Vaughan, Burpee, and
others. The modifications introduced have been
numerous, and some of them at least have consti-
tuted rather notable improvements, notwithstand-
ing the elaborate development of this plant by
many earlier workers.

In the course of my experiments I have endeav-
ored to give a new impetus to variation and
renewed vitality by hybridizing the cultivated
forms with the species imported directly from
Mexico. To be sure the dahlias originally in hand
are so hybridized — to say nothing of the original
tendency to variation — that there is plenty of
material for selection in any lot of seedlings.

Still I have thought that I might gain some new
combinations by the use of wild strains, and in
this my expectations have been realized.

One of the faults of the dahlia, even in the best
varieties, is that there is a tendency to expose the

[211]

Simple but Pleasing

The dahlias originally obtained in Mexico have been wide-
ly hybridized by horticulturists in Europe and America. The
results are familiar to every lover of flowers. Mr. Burbank has gone
back to nature, seeking wild species of dahlia for further hybrid-
izing experiments. Here is a simple but pleasing specimen
that has been utilized in some of his recent tests.

ON THE DAHLIA

center of the flower, owing to the fact that not all
of the stamens have been transformed into florets
even in the most developed varieties. The result
is that in a dry summer, or toward the end of the
season, even good varieties may fail to show the
fully rounded head that is prized by the connois-
seur.

I succeeded through selection in overcoming
this defect, causing the heads to fill out altogether,
so that they were double to the very center, even
at the end of our dry California seasons. A num-
ber of varieties were thus perfected, and these
were, I believe, the only entirely double dahlias
that were ever produced.

As the ideal sought was approximated, the
flowers produced less and less seed, and the per-
fectly double ones produced none at all.

So the races thus developed must be propagated
altogether from the bulbs. This, indeed, is not an
insuperable objection, inasmuch as this is a com-
mon way of propagating the dahlia. But of course
there is always an added merit in a garden flower
that can be produced from the seed.

It is well-known, however, that even the best-
fixed races of dahlias are not expected to breed
true from the seed. Like other specialized flowers
they carry too many hereditary strains in new
combinations to be expected to breed true to any

[213]

Tending To Vary

The wild dahlia evidently had unusual propensity to
vary; otherwise it would hardly have been possible to develop
the extraordinarily complex flowers that are now to be seen in our
gardens within the comparatively short period of time since the
dahlia was brought under cultivation. Here we see illus-
trated the tendency to variation even among
flowers growing from the same stem.

ON THE DAHLIA

single type. So while the dahlia is constantly raised
from the seed, it is always to be expected that the
seedlings will show a wide range of variation.

It is only in specimens grown from the bulb
that any certain prediction can be made as to the
precise characteristics of the prospective flowers.

One of my beautiful yellow double dahlias has
shown a curious responsiveness to the diverse con-
ditions of soil in the gardens at Santa Rosa and at
the experiment farm at Sebastopol only seven
miles distant.

At Santa Rosa the plant grows to a height of
about three feet, and resembles the common types
of dahlia as to its general maner of growth,
though an unusually profuse bloomer.

But at Sebastopol the plant is a dwarf, not ex-
ceeding two feet in height; and as it retains its
habit of profuse blooming the dwarfed form looks
like a solid bouquet of cut dahlias.

Similar modifications in the size of plants, but
less striking in degree, are of course common
enough under differing conditions of soil, and in
particular with varying moisture. But of course
such variations do not affect the heredity of the
plant appreciably. They have no relation with the
production of dwarf and gigantic varieties in the
same fraternity through hybridizing, of which we
have seen examples among various races of plants.

[215]

Still Wider Variations

The dahlia is a composite flower, and its "petals" are in

reality ray-flowers. We have seen in earlier pictures how these

ray flowers attempt to vary. Here they have seemingly run riot. The

result is an asymmetrical flower which, however, is by

no means lacking in artistic attractiveness.

A Stage of Progress

This hybrid dahlia from Mr. Burbank's colony probably

illustrates one of ths stages through which the cultivated dahlias

have passed within comparatively recent generations in the course of

their development. Here, it will be seen, the rag flowers are

encroaching on the center of the flower head, and the

contrast between this double flower and its

wild prototype is very striking.

LUTHER BURBANK

With all its attractive qualities, the dahlia is
not quite a perfect flower because it lacks fra-
grance.

This defect also I have sought to remedy, and
as regards the mere matter of production of a
fragrant dahlia, have been entirely successful.
Unfortunately the new fragrant races have not
hitherto combined odoriferousness with the quali-
ties of size and form and color that enable them
to compete with the best standard varieties. Still,
enough has been done to show that with further
effort the dahlia may be given a perfume that will
greatly enhance its attractiveness.

RACES OF FRAGRANT DAHLIAS

In endeavoring to develop a race of fragrant
dahlias I followed the same rules of selection that
have been repeatedly outlined.

The first thing was to find an individual that
revealed even the faintest pleasing aroma. In
general, dahlias have either no odor, or a slightly
disagreeable one. The tribe of composite flowers
to which the dahlia belongs depends as a rule upon
the conspicuous floral envelope to attract the pol-
lenizing insects, and has not developed fragrance.

But it is probably true with regard to fragran<
as with regard to combinations of colors that there
are unrevealed hereditary factors in the germ
plasm of almost every flower. The production oi

[218]

An Interesting Seedling

This hybrid seedling has not departed very widely
from the traditions of its ancestors, but it presents a pecu-
liarly pleasing appearance, on account of the form and wave-like
effect of its ray flowers. It will doubtless be utilized
for further breeding experiments.

LUTHER BURBANK

odoriferous oils and essences is so characteristic a
phenomenon with plants in general, that we can
hardly doubt that every tribe has in its ancestral
strains very complex elements for the production
of odoriferous compounds. Odors appear to play
a very important part in plant life, not merely in
the attraction of insects to facilitate cross-fertiliza-
tion, but also in giving plants protection.

Otherwise it would be hard to account for the
almost universal prevalence of odors of one kind
or another in connection with the various tissues
of the plant.

Moreover there is a far closer relationship than
is commonly supposed between agreeable and dis-
agreeable odors. Ottar of roses, properly diluted,
has a delicious fragrance; but the same essence in
its concentrated form is positively disagreeable.
Also the combination of disagreeable odors some-
times produces a delightful fragrance in the hands
of the perfumer.

This may give the clue to the rather puzzling
fact that even among fragrant flowers there may
be found occasional blossoms that have a more or
less disagreeable odor. By eliminating these, the
quality of the odor of a bunch of flowers is greatly
bettered. Yet many persons gather flowers indis-
criminately without realizing why some bouquets
have more agreeable odor than others.

[220]

A Dahlia of the Cactus Type

Dahlias of this type, with tubular and pointed rag flow-
ers are familiar in our gardens. Here, as in the ether pictures
shown, Mr. BurbanJt is experimenting with more primitive types of
dahlia, and seeking to develop new propensities. He has pro-
duced a large number of improved varieties of the con-
ventional types; but his newer experiments, as al-
ready stated, have to do with species and
varieties that have been less
extensively cultivated.

LUTHER BURBANK

Making application of a knowledge of this
affinity between disagreeable and agreeable odors,
I searched diligently among dahlias of various
races for a long time, hoping to find one in which
the disagreeable odor was supplanted by an
agreeable one.

And at last the search was rewarded. I found
a dahlia that had a faint but very pleasing fra-
grance comparable to that of magnolia blossoms.

Of course the seeds of this plant were saved,
and in the following season the most careful search
was made among the plants that grew from them
for fragrant flowers. And, as might be expected,
a certain number of these were found.

By repeated selection, always searching for the
most fragrant flowers, and carefully saving their
seed, a race of dahlias was developed many of
which had a very agreeable perfume. Rather I
should say that there were several races, for the
quality of fragrance was associated sometimes
with one set of characteristics of size and form and
color, and sometimes with another.

Selection being made in this case for fragrance
alone, as was necessary in order to intensify this
evasive quality, it was necessary mostly to ignore
the other qualities, and as usual in such cases, it
resulted that the new fragrant races of dahlias,
while having perfume that recommended them,

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LUTHER BURBANK

were somewhat lacking in the other qualities. The
great popularity of the flower has led to such
perfectionment of its various characteristics in
recent years that the standard of competition is
very high, and it would be useless to introduce a
new variety that did not measure up in all regards
to the existing varieties.

So up to the present time the fragrant dahlias
have not been introduced, except three or four,
which were purchased by Vaughan, of Chicago.

Further experiments in selective breeding,
aided probably by hybridization, will be neces-
sary before the quality of fragrance is combined
with satisfactory qualities of size and form and
color. But, as I said, there is every probability that
these combinations will be effected in due course,
and that races of dahlias which combine all the
qualities for which the flower is now prized, with
the added quality of pleasing aroma, will be
available.

WIDER HYBRIDIZATION ATTEMPTED

We have seen that the experiments through
which the original wild dahlias were transformed
into gorgeous double flowers of a characteristic
type utilized the principle of hybridization at all
stages. In my own experiments, I have attempted
to extend the principle, not merely to all the flow-
ers of the genus, but also to those of allied genera.

[224]

LUTHER BURBANK

According to the estimates of the botanist, the
dahlias have fairly close relationship with plants
of the genus Bidens. Indeed, a familiar species of
the genus, known as Bidens atrosanguinea, a
tuberous variety with dark purple flower, is often
spoken of as the black dahlia. Its tubers and foli-
age strongly suggest the common dahlia in minia-
ture.

For four or five years I worked extensively with
this so-called black dahlia, not only by way of
improving the flower itself, but also in the attempt
to hybridize it with the dahlia proper.

I succeeded by selective breeding in enlarging
the flower to about twice its original size, in mak-
ing the petals much rounder and fuller, in adding
extra petals, and in changing the color of the petals
from the usual dark purplish crimson to a light
crimson approaching scarlet and in a few cases
to a pale pink approaching white. The bush itself
was also made more compact.

All these changes were produced by selection
and re-selection, working constantly toward the
new colors desired, and toward increase of the
size of flower, and modification of form.

The species worked with was a Mexican form.
There is an aquatic form with large, brilliant, yel-
low flowers, closely related to the species known
in the east as "pitchforks."

[226]

" '

LUTHER BURBANK

For two or three generations, the flowers
seemed fixed. I could see no change whatever; no
tendency to break into new forms. I attempted
to hybridize the two species of bidens, but did not
succeed, so it was necessary to depend upon selec-
tion alone. The plants were grown in large quan-
tities. After several years, slight variations
appeared; and then, as in so many cases, the ten-
dency to variation became somewhat accentuated.

I became convinced that the black dahlia and
other species of bidens are well worth cultivating,
and that some other valuable tuberous flowering
plants could be developed from them that would
be welcomed by flower lovers in general.

But other engagements made it impossible for
me to carry the experiments beyond the early
stages.

And as to the matter of crossing the bidens with
the dahlia, in which I had been especially inter-
ested, the result was altogether negative.

Repeated efforts failed to fertilize either species
with the pollen of the other.

Notwithstanding the outward similarity of the
plants, it would appear that their racial strains
have diverged beyond the point of ready com-
mingling. Still it is possible that a more extensive
series of experiments might have met with better
results, and further efforts along the same line are

[228]

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LUTHER BURBANK

at least worth making. Could a cross be effected,
we might reasonably expect some very interesting
modifications in the hybrid product; notably, per-
haps, an accentuated capacity for growth that
would possibly give us dahlias rivalling the largest
crysanthemum in size, as they already rival it in
form and flexibility of petal-like florets.
CROSS-POLLENIZING THE DAHLIA

Among themselves, the dahlias cross very
readily, it being, indeed, difficult to keep them
from crossing when they are grown near together.

Yet, as in the case of all composite flowers, the
hand-pollenizing of the dahlias presents certain
difficulties. The method of hand-pollenizing, with
special reference to the washing off of the pollen
from the pistillate flower before applying the for-
eign pollen, has been detailed in its application to
composite flowers in general in the chapter on pol-
lenization. It may be added that it is sometimes
possible to blow the pollen away, if water for
washing it off is not available. The use of a
strong magnifier to inspect the receptacle and
make sure that all pollen has been removed will
give added certainty to your experiment.

After the pollen has been thoroughly removed
by washing, apply the head of the flower that is to
be used as the pollen parent, rubbing it gently
against the pistillate head while it is still wet.

[230]

Color Variation at Its Limits

Composite flowers usually arrange the colors of their ray

flowers symmetrically. But here is a dahlia that has departed

strikingly from the traditions of its tribe, presenting some petals that

are striped and others that are of uniform color. It would b»

interesting to observe the range of color variation that

would be shown by the plants that might be grown

from the seeds of this single flower.

LUTHER BURBANK

But to complete the experiment, it is desirable
to mark the flower, and to repeat the manoeuvre
on several successive days. This is necessary be-
cause not all the flowers in the head mature at
the same time. The outer come to perfection first,
and the process of maturing advances towards the
center of the flower. So the first pollenizing must
be done just at the right time, and successive pol-
lenizings day by day until the entire flower has
come to maturity, if all the pistils are fertilized.

It is obvious, then, that the crossing of dahlias,
while it presents no real difficulties, and is toler-
ably sure in its results, is a somewhat tedious and
laborious process where the field of operations is
wide. But, as already pointed out, it is not neces-
sary for the experimenter who is seeking merely
to modify existing varieties to resort to hand-
pollenizing.

The varieties that will appear among any ordi-
nary lot of seedlings will afford him ample oppor-
tunity for selection.

On the other hand, the experimenter who
wishes to develop new types of striking individ-
uality will of course crossbreed the old ones, using
species or varieties as widely separated as pos-
sible. My own experiments, as already pointed
out, have involved the use of wild species from
Mexico, and the influence of these wild crosses has

[232]

ON THE DAHLIA

undoubtedly been felt in the rather striking results
attained in working with a race of flowers that,
despite its comparatively recent advent in the hor-
ticultural garden, is already highly specialized.

That further improvements of striking charac-
ter will be attained can scarcely be doubted by
any one who takes into account the fact that the
dahlia is a parvenu among the admitted aristo-
crats of the flower garden. It is impossible that
the hereditary resources of any plant should have
been exhausted within the comparatively brief
period of time that has elapsed since this extra-
ordinarily responsive and adaptable flower was
first brought from the wilds.

— Brought from sub-tropical
Mexico to the relatively cold
climate of England, the dahlia
soon showed the effects of the
altered climatic condition. The
tendency to vary was accentu-
ated and presently there was
a new race of dahlias, so utterly
divergent from the parent form
as to be almost unrecognizable.

The Wyoming Canna

Mr. Burbank has had great success in the development of

the canna, introducing a number of varieties that have gained

popularity. The one called the Wyoming, here shown, has flowers

that are peculiarly graceful and attractive.

THE CANNA AND
THE CALLA

AND SOME INTERESTING WORK WITH LILIES

MY most celebrated canna is the one named
the Tarrytown. This canna took the
grand gold medal at the Pan-American
Exposition at Buffalo, as the best canna exhibited
at that time. There were large numbers in com-
petition.

In addition to receiving the gold medal, the
Tarrytown was given special mention as being the
most profusely blooming canna ever seen.

The new canna is a rich brilliant crimson in
color, and is rather dwarfed in size, standing not
higher than three feet. Instead of producing a
single stalk or at most three or four stalks, as a
good many even of the better varieties of canna
did at the time when this was produced, the Tarry-
town grows from six to nine oft'-shoots of the main
stalk. Thus it makes a splendid and highly
effective display,

[VOLUME IX— CHAPTER VIII]

LUTHER BURBANK

The individual flowers are of good substance,
enduring the sun well.

After the blossoms fade, the petals drop to the
ground. This is a special feature for which careful
selection had been made, as many cannas tend to
hold shrivelled blossoms, thus having an untidy
appearance.

ORIGIN OF THE NEW CANNA

The Tarrytown canna was developed from the
type known as the Crozy canna, hybridized with a
native species of the Florida swamps known as
Canna flaccida, a plant with extremely large flow-
ers of pure lemon yellow.

The Crozy canna is a well-known horticultural
variety, developed in somewhat recent years,
which differs from the varieties that were previ-
ously in vogue in that its flowers are notable at-
tractive and of varying colors. Until the cannas of
the Crozy type were developed, this plant was
prized chiefly for its foliage, the flowers being
rather insignificant. But the Crozy canna has
large flowers, to casual inspection similar to those
of the gladiolus.

The Florida species (C. flaccida) that was used
to hybridize with the Crozy, has very fine large
petals, but the flowers are not lasting. But it
blended well with the other type, and introduced
an element of variability that facilitated selection

[236]

An Experimental Canna

Mr. Burbank's cannas are hybrids, in which the strains of the

cultivated species have been mated with those of a wild species

from Florida. The specimen here shown illustrates a stage of progress.

LUTHER BURBANK

and development along the lines similar to those
characterizing the perfected Tarrytown; also the
Burbank, Austria, and Italia, since introduced.

The Crozy canna is itself a hybrid, one of the
parents, I believe, being a form known as Canna
iridiflora, a tall plant with long, dark green leaves,
and with a long drooping panicle of rich crimson
flowers. I have experimented with this form, but
have never known it to produce seed. The devel-
oper of the Crozy was apparently more successful
in this regard, and in going forward with the
experiments I was enabled to profit by the earlier
hybridization.

The new hybridization that I effected between
the Crozy hybrid and the native Florida species,
brought together strains widely diversified; for
most of the cannas are of tropical origin. The
tendency to variation was very obvious even in
the first generation, as might have been expected
considering that one of the parents was itself a
hybrid.

From the same hybrid strain it was possible to
select a number of plants showing individual pecu-
liarities that seemed worthy of perpetuation.

The qualities developed in the Tarrytown have
already been outlined. Another race developed
simultaneously, through a different series of selec-
tions, differed very markedly, in particular as re-

[238]

ON LILIES

gards the character of the flower, which took on
so characteristic a form, and colors of such elusive
quality, as to merit the name of Orchid-flowered
Canna. It chanced that experimenters in Italy
produced simultaneously and quite independently
a race of canna having closely similar qualities.

The best of my cannas of this type was intro-
duced under the name of The Burbank.

This plant rather closely resembles a variety
known as the "Austria" which was introduced
about the same time from Europe. The Burbank,
however, is somewhat larger, and has thicker and
more rubber-like foliage; and its flower its slightly
less crimson in the throat.

WORKING WITH THE CANNA

The cross-fertilization of the canna should
seemingly present no particular difficulties to any-
one who studies the mechanism of the flower.

The stamens have a petal-like appearance, and
the pollen-mass could not be transported by the
bee or any other small insect. Large moths may
carry it from one flower to another, but the usual
pollenizer of the canna, in this country, is the
humming-bird.

The hand-pollenizer may readily enough
detach the pollen-mass, and transfer it to the
stigma of another flower.

But it does not follow that hybridizing is easy.

[239]

An Improved Canna

This variety shows marked improvement over its progen-
itors, but it does not fully compete with some others in Mr. Bur-
bank's colony, and so will not be introduced. It has been utilizedt
however, in further breeding experiments.

ON LILIES

In point of fact I found it exceedingly difficult,
especially when attempting to cross the ordinary
canna with the Florida species already mentioned.
I worked for eight years with that purpose in view
before succeeding. And even then the seedlings
were greatly lacking in fecundity, producing very
little seed, notwithstanding the fact that cannas in
general usually produce abundantly in California.

The inf ecundity of the canna hybrids suggests
that the species in question are almost at the limits
of affinity. But the seeds produced, although few
in number, were some of them fertile, and the
hybrid progeny showed possibilities of develop-
ment, as already suggested. The later generations,
however, are almost or quite sterile, refusing to
seed.

The chief difficulty in growing seedlings of the
canna is to insure the germination of the seed. The
familiar name "Indian-shot plant" by which the
canna was first known suggests the character of its
seeds, which in point of fact are not unlike small
bullets in appearance and in hardness of texture.
The old plan of germinating the seeds used to be
to file off part of the thick shell, in order that the
seed might absorb moisture.

This works very well, but can hardly be applied
on a large scale.

My own method has been to disinfect the canna

[241]

LUTHER BURBANK

seed with a solution of blue stone (sulphate of
copper), and place them in coarse gravel, taking
pains to pour water through the gravel at frequent
intervals. Under these circumstances, the seed is
less likely to decay through attacks of fungous
pests than if planted in the soil. In the coarse, clean,
sterilized gravel, a high percentage of the seed will
come up in a few months. The porosity of the
gravel, giving free access to air, is also an element
that is advantageous to the seed of the canna.

Seed treated in this way will germinate at a
relatively low temperature; but germination is
facilitated if the heat is kept between sixty and
seventy degrees.

As soon as the seedlings appear, they are trans-
planted thinly into boxes where they are allowed
to stand until May, when they are planted in the
field, and cultivated like other crops.

A large proportion of the seedlings will prove
worthless. The weeding out of the first year is
done readily, but selection in the second year re-
quires skill, to judge as to which plants are worthy
of preservation. Beyond that, of course the usual
process of selection through several generations
will be carried out along the lines of the desired
modification at which the experimenter is aiming.

The objects that the experimenter may advan-
tageously bear in mind in developing new cannas,

[242]

The Burbank and Tarrytown Cannas

These are two of the best of Mr. Burbank's improved

cannas. They have been introduced, and have attained great

popularity. Though so different in appearance they are of kindred

origin, both being hybrids developed by crossing cannas of the

Crozy type with a native species from Florida, the latter

a plant with extremely large flowers of pure yellow.

LUTHER BURBANK

include hardiness, the production of a double
flower, and the production of a white flower,
among others.

In California the canna may be left out of doors
over winter; indeed it does much better when so
treated than when the bulbs are lifted and stored.
In the northeastern States, it is necessary to dig
the roots and store them where they will not be
subject to too low a temperature. It will be of
advantage to develop the canna to a stage of hardi-
ness that would enable it to be treated as an ordi-
nary perennial, leaving the roots in the ground
and only dividing them now and again for pur-
poses of propagation. Still this might require
more work than is worth giving to the task, inas-
much as the canna is already grown far to the
north, and the work of digging and storing the
bulbs is not excessive.

A double canna would certainly be a novelty
and one that is probably worth working for. The
same is true of a pure white canna. By hybridiz-
ing and careful selection, it should be possible to
develop this novelty, judging from analogy with
other flowers. Of course it is possible to increase
the size of the flower, and to produce other color
variations along the line of recent developments.
Most important of all, the flower should be made
more lasting.

[244]

ON LILIES

The manner of production of my fragrant calla
was described in an earlier chapter.

It will be recalled that this anomaly was pro-
duced through selection from an individual found
among a large company.

The question of odor and its variation in
flowers was further discussed in a recent chapter.
There appears to be, in point of fact, as wide a
range of variation among flowers in the matter of
odor as in regard to color. But inasmuch as most
selective experiments have been made with refer-
ence to color and quite without regard to the mat-
ter of odor, the cultivated plants have naturally
developed along the lines of color variation, and
even those that were originally fragrant have in
many cases lost their perfume.

IMPROVING ESSENTIAL OILS

In recent years, however, much more attention
has been paid to this matter. In particular, the
studies of the chemistry of essential oils, with
reference to the production of artificial substitutes
for the natural ones, has given clues that the plant
developer is beginning to take up.

I have been invited, for example, to improve
the clove and the cinnamon, as well as the coffee
plant, in the production of races having a higher
percentage of the various essential oils for which
they are prized.

[245]

An Unnamed Canna

The cannas have a characteristic type of flower from
which there is no very wide range of variation, even among the
hybrid seedlings. As to size, color, and arrangement of blossoms on
the stems, however, there is considerable opportunity for
choice. The specimen here shown suggests interest-
ing possibilities, although not itself con-
sidered worthy of introduction.

ON LILIES

Coffee, as everyone knows, depends very
largely on its aroma and fragrance, and it has been
found that these may be greatly modified accord-
ing to the soil in which the plant is grown. The
fragrant qualities are often greatly intensified
when the plant is grown on volcanic soil and at a
high altitude. It is known that various spices dif-
fer markedly. In the same way the quantity of
alkaloids, such as caffeine and quinine, may vary
in the same species under different conditions of
soil and climate. There is a species of coffee that
is practically without caffeine; but this has little
aroma. It has been proposed to combine it with
the Arabian coffee and it may be possible to pro-
duce a coffee without caffeine — which may or may
not be popular.

Among garden plants that are prized for their
aromatic quality, the thymes vary widely in the
amount and quality of their essential oils.

The notable variation in the odor of the calla,
which gave me my scented variety, is duplicated
in a good many species of lily.

The individuals even of the wild species vary,
some of them having a really delightful fragrance,
and some none at all. In crossing the different
individuals, you may accentuate the perfume, add
one element of fragrance to another; or, on the
other hand, you may make such a combination

[247]

LUTHER BURBANK

that the two aromas seem to neutralize each other,
producing an odorless hybrid.

The plant developer who works with these
anomalies in mind, paying heed to the fragrance of
his flowers as well as to their other qualities, is
almost certain to produce varieties that will be
appreciated, for, as already suggested, the perfume
of the flower and the flavors of foods are nowa-
days receiving more attention than formerly.
NEW GIANT CALLAS

I have introduced four main varieties of calla
in addition to the calla Fragrance.

My work began largely with raising seedlings
for the trade, from the form of calla known as
Richardia albo-maculata, a dwarf variety with
spotted leaves that was at that time very popular.

The leaves of this plant bore attractive white
or transparent markings on the bright green sur-
face. The flower was white, with a brown tinge at
the base, and in the original form was insignificant.

I raised this calla in great quantities a good
many years ago, sometimes producing from the
seed a quarter of a million bulbs in a season.

Among these almost numberless seedlings ap-
peared, now and then, a golden variety, but this
proved difficult to fix, although very handsome and
attractive.

Presently I secured another variety of call

[248]

Another Experimental Canna

Here is a hybrid canna with a large flower of very
pleasing appearance. It does not surpass the improved varie-
ties already introducedt however, and it will be used only in further
breeding experiments.

LUTHER BURBANK

known as the Pride of the Congo, Richardia ha-
stata. This is a much stronger grower than the
other variety and has pale yellowish flowers larger
than those of the albo-macalata. I raised many
seedlings from this variety on my Sebastopol
place, and developed it by selection until it pro-
duced very large bulbs.

Then I hybridized the two species, using our
hybridized golden variety of the R. albo-macalata
and the developed varieties of R. hastata. The
cross was made reciprocally as usual, and here as
elsewhere it appeared to make no difference which
was the pollenate and which the pistillate parent.

The hybrids vary considerably as to bulb, plant,
and flower — much more so than either parent
species when raised from uncrossed seed. And
among the hybrids there were some plants that
produced enormous bulbs, sometimes eight or ten
inches in diameter and weighing from two to six
pounds each. The plants that grew from these
bulbs were of large size and bore blossoms that
were of much brighter yellow than those of either
parent.

This plant was introduced under the name of
the Giant Calla, a name subsequently changed to
Lemon Giant.

Subsequently I obtained a number of other
species of calla, including those known as R.

[250]

ON LILIES

Elliottiana, R. Pentlandi, R. melanoleuca, R. Nel-
sonii, and R. Rehmanni. These were all hybrid-
ized with one another, and with the species that
previously was in hand.

Among these complex hybrids were plants that
were unique in form and foliage and flower.

The blossoms varied in color not only in the
different hybrid plants, but sometimes an individ-
ual blossom would be partly deep purple, partly
deep yellow, and in part almost white. Sometimes
the colors were mottled or orange in stripes, but
usually the purple color appeared in the throat of
the flower.

The purple is apparently a combined inheritance
from the Elliottiana, Rehmanni and melanoleuca;
and the hastata also has a faint touch of it. The
yellow is heritage from hastata and ElliotianL

These plants varied as much in size as in qual-
ity of flower. Some of them grew three and a half
feet in height, others only eight or ten inches. In
some cases the foliage and stalks were smooth and
in others actually hairy, covered with soft ex-
crescences of thorn-like appearance. Some of the
hybrids were very easy to raise, but most of them
very difficult.

Among the freak forms that appeared in this
hybrid colony were plants bearing double and even
triple flowers, and others in which the flowers and

[251]

King Humbert Canna

This is a very pleasing variety of canna, the characteristics

of which are well revealed in the above picture. The blossoms

are individually of large size, and they are borne in profusion.

ON LILIES

leaves were combined in the most curious man-
ner. Of course the so-called flower of the calla is
a modified leaf that has not altogether lost the
leaf-like form and manner of growth. So the re-
version through which the flowers become still
more leaf-like in these mixed hybrids was prehaps
not altogether surprising. But the particular nian-
festations of the tendency to reversion were most
astonishing.

OTHER NEW VARIETIES

Among the hybrids that departed less markedly
from the calla traditions, were some that bore
flowers of a splendid deep yellow, and that had all
desirable qualities of easy multiplication and
abundant blooming.

Some of these have a purple spot low down in
the throat, others are a pure yellow, not dissimilar
in appearance to my early varieties.

But while the new hybrids outwardly resemble
some of the early varieties developed by selection,
they showed their inherent difference in that they
are exceedingly easy to cultivate, whereas the
earlier ones were subject to decay without appar-
ent cause at any season of the year. The new
hybrids are hardier, and can be raised much more
readily. They will grow out of doors in any mild
climate, and require scarcely more attention than
so many potato plants. They are reasonably in-

[253]

LUTHER BURBANK

different to the conditions of moisture and a
moderate degree of cold does not in the least
discourage them.

The contrast in this regard between the newer
hybrids and the earlier yellow varieties is very
striking. They furnish an illustration of the added
vitality that may come through hybridization.

The original yellow calla is confined to a lim-
ited area in the sub-tropical regions of South
Africa. Its pure-bred descendants, as we have
seen, retain the sensitiveness of the parent. But
the selected hybrids, while retaining the yellow
color of the African plant, have acquired from
their other parental strains a degree of hardiness
that adapts them to our climate, and at the same
time have received increments of vigor that noth-
ing but hybridization appears to give.

As to the later point, I may mention a sport
that appeared among my white callas, in the form
of a plant that grew to gigantic size. The sport
appeared among the seedlings of the common calla
but doubtless represents a natural cross between
different strains of this species.

The plant bore its flowers on stems sometimes
six feet or even more in height. The foliage was
of corresponding size, and the flowers almost pro-
portionately immense.

The new sport was named the Giant Calla.

[254]

LUTHER BURBANK

In contrast with this giant is a dwarf of the
same species, retaining the characteristics of the
calla, and having the peculiar interest that attaches
to a miniature flower reproducing the qualities of
a familiar flower which we ordinarily think of as
being of large size. Some of my dwarf varieties,
produced by selection, have flowers only two
inches in diameter.

Among the offspring of the Giant Calla, one has
appeared that has a shade of purplish crimson on
the stalk and blossom. This color I have never
known to appear in the common calla before, and
its appearance suggests reversion to a very remote
ancestor. It is possible that the giant bears blood
of one of the other species, two or three of which,
as before mentioned, have strains of purple in
their heredity but this is unlikely, as I have never
been able to get these species to cross.

It will appear that there is abundant oppor-
tunity for the making of interesting experiments
with the different races of callas. As to the practi-
calities of cross-pollenizing, there are no difficul-
ties, notwithstanding the very curious character of
the floral envelope. The calla flowers, as is well-
known, are very tiny, and borne on the central
spadix that stands like a little post in the center
of the leaf-like spathe that is ordinarily thought
of as constituting the flower.

[256]

ON LILIES

To effect cross-pollenization, it is first neces-
sary to amputate the spadix, removing the upper
portion, with the staminate flowers.

Pollen gathered from another spadix may then
be dusted with a camel's hair brush over the pistil-
late flowers at the base of the amputated spadix.
Of course no attempt is made to operate on the
individual flower; but the group as a whole may
thus readily be fertilized.

As the pistillate and staminate flowers on any
given spadix ripen at different times, there is no
danger of self-fertilization if the operation of re-
moving the upper part of the spadix is performed
at the right time.

COMMON LILIES

To a fair proportion of country folk, anything
that is not obviously a pink or a rose is character-
ized as a lily.

And in point of fact the diversity among the
lilies and allied species is so great as almost to
justify the wide implications given the name collo-
quially. A gigantic calla and a tiny trillium, for
example, seem about as far removed from each
other as two flowering plants can well be. And
the most familiar forms of the tiger lily, which
may perhaps be said to be the typical member of
its tribe, assuredly bear small resemblance to
either calla or trillium.

[257]

ON LILIES

Nevertheless there is a large group of lilies that
bear greater or less resemblance to the typical
species, having characteristics of form, no less
than of arrangement of stamens and pistils, that
are quite unmistakable to anyone having the
slightest botanical knowledge.

A large number of these may be hybridized
readily, and I have personally worked with a great
number of species. But while the results have in
many cases been interesting, they have not been
very spectacular, or very important, and it is not
necessary here to go into details with regard to
most of them. It will suffice to tell of two or three
typical hybridizing experiments made chiefly with
the native leopard lily (Lillium pardalinum) as
the pistillate parent.

The extent of my experiments with the tribe
may be gathered from the statement that at one
time on the two Sebastopol farms I had fully five
hundred thousand more or less distinct kinds of
hybrid seedling lilies. About three-quarters of
them were produced by pollenizing the native spe-
cies just named with all the species from different
parts of the world of which I could obtain
specimens.

I found that hybrids between the numerous
species of lilies that are native to the Pacific Coast
could be made with the greatest facility. Tens of

[259]

LUTHER BURBANK

thousands of seedling hybrids between the differ-
ent indigenous species were produced. But, on
the other hand, hybridization with the foreign lilies
was found to be rather difficult, different species
having seemingly diverged somewhat toward the
limits of affinity.

One of the most successful crosses was that
made between the species known as Lilium Hum-
boldtii and L. parryi. The former has a very large
bold, thick petal, white, with large distinct spots,
and it is fragrant. The other parent is a tall,
slender variety, the flower being clear buttercup
yellow, with very small spots or none.

The cross was made with some difficulty, and
the result was a lily which some connoisseurs have
considered one of the most beautiful ever devel-
oped. It grows about four feet in height, and its
flower is open bell-shaped, with partially curved
petals, brilliantly yellow in color, without a spot
or dot, and having a delightful fragrance.

Another interesting cross was that between L.
pardaliniim and L. parvum. The hybrids of this
cross sometimes produce hundreds of blossoms on
a single stem, and several hundred clumps from a
single bulb. Not only do they multiply with
astonishing rapidity, but in size, color, and abund-
ance of bloom they exceed either parent, although
both parents are prolific bearers.

[260]

The Fragrant Calla

The story of the development of the fragrant calla is told

in detail in an earlier volume. The reader will recall that the

scented variety was developed through selective breeding, the ancestor

of the race being a chance "sport" that had a trace of fragrance.

LUTHER BURBANK

The crosses of the somewhat fragrant L. parryi
with L. W ashing toniannm and L. pardalinum pro-
duce bulbs having similarly extraordinary powers
of multiplication, although in this regard there
was a most amazing variation. Certain individ-
uals would produce a hundred bulbs while others
of the same fraternity were producing only one or
two.

Some of these seedlings would grow eight or
ten feet in height, while here and there would be
one from the same lot of seed growing only eigh-
teen inches or two feet in height.

But the most striking characteristic of these
hybrids was their exquisite fragrance. Even
though the seed were grown from L. pardalinum,
which is never fragrant, the hybrids having the L.
Washingtonianum cross for the other parent, were
so fragrant that when massed together their per-
fume saturated the air, and could be distinguished,
down wind, at a distance of several miles.

The individual plants differed widely on close
inspection as to their forms and colors, but when
viewed from a distance the effect wras that of a
great gorgeous spread of cloth of gold.

The variations in form of stem and flower
among these hybrids extended also to the bulbs,
some of which were flat and of varying colors,
from pale rose and crimson to yellow, and others

[262]

ON LILIES

of which were compact, resembling pears or apples
in form.

Another striking peculiarity of the bulb was
that some of them had scales that were solid, as in
the Washingtonianiim, while in others of the same
lot the scales would be divided into several separ-
ate divisions, each of which would grow a form of
new bulb under proper conditions. Some of the
bulbs when exposed to sunlight would turn to a
brilliant crimson, while others after exposure for
any length of time were white or yellow or varie-
gated. There was similar variation as to the
resistance to decay.

I may add that some of the little bulbs, notably
those of L. Brownii, are edible and are considered
a great Christmas delicacy by the Chinese, who
make most delicious stews and soups from these
bulbs. I myself have eaten the bulbs of L. Brownii,
grown on the Sebastopol place, and have found
them to have a most delicious oyster-like flavor.
The possibility of these lilies as food producers
have not hitherto been given the attention they
deserve. All these lilies have bitter bulbs, and they
are fairly resistant to eel worms, milliped, and
thrip, etc., whereas the Brownii is invariably
destroyed in the second year, and can only be
grown in new soils. All the true lilies finally suc-
cumb on old soils. I have tried to eliminate the

[263]

The Lemon Giant Calla

Mr. Burbank's calla experiments have had to do with a

number of species, which have been variously crossed. Here is

an improved variety, produced by hybridization and selection, that was

introduced under the name of the lemon giant. The flecked leaves,

together with the quality of the flower itself, give it distinction.

ON LILIES

6itterness through crossing but got no favorable
results.

SOME WIDER HYBRIDIZATIONS

It has already been stated that the California
lilies do not cross readily with the foreign species.
Nevertheless I have made successful hybridizations
in many cases.

Among the most interesting of these crosses was
one in which the so-called Lily of the Incas
(Alstroemeria — not a true lily, having no bulb), of
South America, was crossed with the familiar Cal-
ifornia species (L. pardalinum) , already so often
referred to.

Of some of these hybrids I raised a large num-
ber, and they presented interesting variations.

Some of them, when they bloomed, seemed
almost counterparts of the South American parent
except that their petals recurved like those of the
California lily. Some were spotted like the Cali-
fornia parent, and some were quite without spots.
As a rule, however, these hybrids, even though pro-
ducing fairly abundant foliage, did not blossom
at all, and at best they were small and insignificant,
and within a year or two most of them had disap-
peared. They seemed to produce inferior bulbs
that could not withstand the winter.

As further evidencing the lack of virility of
these hybrids, it may be noted that all of them were

[265]

The Washington Lily

Mr. Burbank's experiments with the lily tribe have been
almost numberless. He has made hybridizing and selecting ex-
periments with almost every variety of lily under cultivation, and with
many wild species. The specimen here shown is the species
known as Lilium Washingtonia. Its strains have
been blended with those of many other
species in Mr. Burbank's gardens.

ON LILIES

dwarfs. In striking contrast to hybrids of the
pardalinum with other native lilies, none of them
grew more than a foot in height and many of them
not over six inches.

These dwarfs were rendered all the more strik-
ing by the fact that the miniature lilies reproduced
in many respects the characteristics of their South
American parent.

Another interesting hybridization was that
effected between the pardalinum and a species of
the native trillium, a plant familiar in our woods
under the name of drooping night-shade.

The trillium is, of course, a lily, but, like
Alstroemeria, it belongs to a different genus from
the leopard lily, and its strikingly different appear-
ance has already been referred to.

The hybrids produced by this strange union
were dwarfs with broad, lily-like foliage, with blos-
soms that resembled those of the trillium — having
three very broad, flat, greenish-white or yellow
petals, and three narrower petals, like sepals.

A plant that thus bore a close resemblance as to
foliage and general appearance to the leopard lily,
yet which had blossoms like those of the wake-
robin (though somewhat larger and coarser) made
a very striking and interesting exhibit.

The species of trillium used in this cross was
the common native Trillium ovatum.

[267]

LUTHER BURBANK

The hybrids, although in themselves so interest-
ing, proved lacking in vitality, and notwithstanding
my efforts all died — not, however, before I had
secured photographs of the strange trillium-lily
combination.

Among all my experiments with the lilies,
there is perhaps no other result quite as interesting
as this hybridization with the trillium. Its results
suggest the desirability of further experiments
along similar lines.

There is an almost boundless opportunity for
new series of investigations with members of this
very extensive group. The plants may readily be
cross-fertilized by the amateur, and interesting re-
results must follow almost as a matter of course.

— The plant developer who
pays heed to the fragrance of
his flowers as well as to their
other qualities, is almost cer-
tain to produce varieties that
will be appreciated. The per-
fume of the flower and the
flavor of foods are now-a-days
receiving more attention than
formerly.

THE PUREST WHITE
IN NATURE

STRIKING COLOR CHANGES IN THE WATSONIA

BULBS are not usually measured by the cord.
But I do not know how better to give an
idea of my work with the Watsonia than
to say that in recent years I have destroyed about
eight cords of bulbs of this plant each season. A
cord, it will be recalled, is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide,
and 4 feet high.

If you will picture in your mind's eye eight
cords of wood piled together, and recall that the
Watsonia bulbs have corresponding bulk in the
aggregate, and that each individual bulb is of the
size of a small gladiolus, you will gain a* fairly
clear conception of one of the least satisfactory
aspects of the plant experimenter's work.

These discarded bulbs, it should be understood,
would produce very beautiful flowers. It seems a
pity to destroy them, when so many people would
be glad to have them for cultivation. But past

[VOLUME IX — CHAPTER IX]

LUTHER BURBANK

experience teaches me that I have no alternative
in the matter. If I permitted these bulbs to go out
they would presently be exploited by someone as
"Burbank's Best Watsonia," or under some still
more spectacular title, and my reputation as a pro-
ducer of fine varieties would suffer, as it has many
times in the past through similar deceptions.

So there is no recourse, after selecting the com-
paratively small numbers of bulbs that give great-
est promise for the carrying on of the experiment,
but to destroy all of the remainder, even though,
as in the case of the Watsonias, these may number
a quarter of a million bulbs of considerable intrin-
sic merit, representing an enormous amount of
labor.

A FLOWER THAT RIVALS THE GLADIOLUS

The Watsonia has been somewhat recently
introduced, and has made its way slowly. So it
may not be superfluous to tell the general reader
that this plant bears a close resemblance to the
gladiolus. It is indigenous to South Africa, one
species being found also in Madagascar, and is
represented by a number of wild species, among
which two or three have pre-eminent importance
from the standpoint of the horticulturist.

Perhaps the similarity of the Watsonia to the
familiar gladiolus has interfered with its rapid
introduction. Moreover the new plant is some-

[270]

ON THE WATSONIA

what less hardy than the old one, and although it
thrives abundantly in the climate of California
it cannot as yet be grown satisfactorily in the
gardens of the northeastern United States.

But there is one quality of the Watsonia, in its
perfected varieties, that puts it quite beyond rival-
ry of the gladiolus. It produces a beautiful snow-
white flower. As we have elsewhere noted, there
has been, until recently, no truly white gladiolus.
But the white of the Watsonia has been character-
ized as the "whitest white" in nature.

In point of quality of its whiteness, this flower
is perhaps the only rival of the Shasta daisy. Each
of these flowers is of a snowy whiteness, undimmed
by the slightest trace of pigment.

The original wild forms of Watsonia, to be
sure, are not white. On the contrary they are of
various hues of red and pink. But there is appar-
ently a spontaneous tendency to produce now and
again a white variant, for at least two, and per-
haps more, of these have been introduced from
South Africa that were probably of independent
origin. The white forms that are most familiar
under cultivation are so similar that they have
been thought to be identical, the origin of one of
them being somewhat in doubt.

The white Watsonia whose origin is clearly
known is descended from a plant discovered about

[271]

A Cluster of Watsonias

The Watsonta is a plant from South America that

bears some resemblance to the gladiolus. Its flowers are

comparatively small, but they are extremely graceful and pleasing.

ON THE WATSONIA

eighty miles from the Cape of Good Hope by Mr.
H. W. Arderne, of Cape Town. He took the plant
to his garden and in 1892 had a goodly colony of
the white flowers under cultivation. In due course
they were introduced, and gained a measure of
popularity among discriminating horticulturists,
chiefly because of the exquisite whiteness of the
flower.

Meantime, however, the original species has not
been neglected, although comparatively little work
has been done, in this country at any rate, in the
cultivation of any of the Watsonias at the time my
experiments commenced. Possibly the flowers
would not have been prized but for the introduc-
tion of the white, as the others are rather dull and
not particularly attractive in color.

HYBRIDIZING THE WATSONIA

I have never been able to determine clearly
whether the white variety named W. Ardernei in
honor of its discoverer is identical with the variety
introduced as W. O'Brieni. They are closely sim-
ilar, but it seems not to be clearly established as to
whether they come from the same stock, although
the individuals from which the two races have
developed were undoubtedly discovered indepen-
dently.

On receiving the white Watsonia I planted it
on a damp piece of sandy land at Sebastopol, but

[273]

LUTHER BURBANK

the bulbs did not thrive, and it was two or three
years before any one of them bloomed. I learned
through experience that the bulbs do not require
too moist soil. They thrive in soil that contains a
great mass of leaves, and under proper conditions
they put out numerous branching stalks, about
four feet in height, which for months together are
covered with beautiful snow-white flowers, which
have, as already stated, the size and much the
general appearance of small gladioli.

The conditions of soil under which the Wat-
sonia thrives are similar to those required by the
gladiolus.

As soon as the colony of white Watsonias was
fairly established, I began making crossing experi-
ments, using for the cross the reddish pink species
and including, a few years later, also a pink variety
of the W. Ardernei that was sent out by a Dutch
florist. As usual in these experiments, I hybridized
with one species after another until in the course
of a few seasons we had crossbred forms of
multiple ancestry.

There were strains of the white Watsonia in
them all, but also strains of the reddish and pink
species.

By 1904 I had a crossbred colony of Watsonias
numbering about fifty thousand seedlings. This
doubled in the succeeding season, and in recent

[274]

Color Variation Among the Watsonias

Even ia. the wild state the Watsonias tend to vary in
color, the usual hues, however, being red and pink. In devel-
oping the plant, Mr. Burbank has selected constantly with reference
to the improvement of their color-schemes. Here are
some samples of his selected varieties.

LUTHER BURBANK

years the colony has attained the proportion sug-
gested by what has already been said about the
elimination of bulbs by the cord.

Needless to say there is great variety among
these complex crossbred flowers. All of them
retain the essential characteristics of bulb and
stalk and manner of growth of the Watsonias. But
in their size of flower, and in various important
characteristics, they show departure from either
of the parent forms.

Perhaps the most striking individual develop-
ment is that of a pure white form of Watsonia that
has double flowers. This double Watsonia is an
unusual flower. The doubling has been brought
about, not by the transformation of stamens, as
in the case of a double rose or dahlia, but by grow-
ing a new circle of petals outside the old ones.
This form of doubling, to be sure, is not altogether
anomalous. It occasionally takes place in the
case of the rose and the carnation, and I have
known it to occur with the apple blossom. But it
is not very common.

It is sometimes spoken of as supernumerary
doubling, to distinguish it from the usual type in
which each new petal takes the place of a stamen.

In addition to the double white Watsonia, the
crossbred colony has presented single white ones
that have much larger and more open blossoms

[276]

ON THE WATSONIA

than the original forms. Also some that grow on
much taller stems, and others, on the other hand,
that are dwarfed, and of more compact form. Not
a few show marked improvement over the original
form. If possible they surpass the original in
snowy whiteness, and they not only bloom much
earlier than the type form, but they are the most
persistent bloomers, putting forth flowers almost
perpetually throughout the season.

STRANGE FORMS AND ENTRANCING COLORS

But even these snow white members of the
colony are surpassed in beauty by some of their
associates that show the most remarkable com-
binations and blendings of colors.

The parent forms, as we have seen, are reddish
and white, but these blended hybrids present such
combinations of colors as I have never seen in any
other tribe of flowers except the orchids. It would
be impossible to describe with any degree of accu-
racy the varied hues that these amazing and
delightful blossoms present.

There are combinations of violet and rosy pink,
soft apricot yellows, salmon, nearly pure yellow,
yellow shading into pink, deep, dark crimson, light
crimson, and purplish tints of many shades. And
these various tones and colors are so shaded and
blended as to produce an effect which, as I said,
can be matched only among the far-famed orchids.

[277]

LUTHER BURBANK

To produce races of flowers of such varied and
entrancing hues from parent forms that had no
exceptional distinction except for the whiteness of
one variety, is to experience in full measure the
best rewards that await the patient plant experi-
menter.

It chances also that these wonderful blossoms
are not only individually delightful, but they are
produced in such profusion as is not approached
by the uncrossed races of Watsonias. And to cap
the climax, these profusely borne and gorgeously
colored blossoms are put forth throughout the
season, early and late.

All in all, then, the new hybrid Watsonia must
be given high rank among the aristocrats of the
flower garden. They now lack nothing but an
element of hardiness that will adapt them to grow
in regions of the country where the climate is
doubtful and the conditions are less favorable than
those that prevail in California.

Somewhat earlier, the species Watsonia coc-
cinea was introduced into the combination. It had
smaller and more scattered flowers, long and tub-
ular, and it was of doubtful value, and introduced
with trepidation.

Some of the new hybrid forms presently devel-
oped long slender tubes, while the flowers sit close
to the main stalk. Some have star-shaped flowers

[278]

Other Watsonias

Mr. Burbank has a very highly developed color sense, and

he is particularly partial to flowers that have delicate hues. He

has found the Watsonias peculiarly responsive, and has produced

varieties showing delicate tints almost rivaling those of

the orchids. Here is a random cluster from

his enormous Watsonia colony.

LUTHER BURBANK

with narrow pointed petals, others have wide
rounded petals that give the flowers the appear-
ance nearly of single dahlia blossoms. Still others
are of a curious intermediate form — three of the
petals being rounded, and three star-shaped.

Flowers of the last named type are quite anom-
alous. Petals of some of the old Watsonias were
star-shaped, and others were rounded, but the
combination of the two qualities is unique.

Among the hybrid seedlings there are some that
are only seven or eight inches high, appearing with
tufts of wide dark green leaves at a time when
others with slender leaves have shot up to a height
of eighteen inches or two feet.

We have seen similar differences among other
hybrid plants. They show at once the diversity
of the racial strains within their germ plasm, and
the possibility of segregating and recombining
traits of different ancestors.

There is a corresponding diversity as to the
bulbs, and in particular as to the degrees of rapid-
ity with which they multiply. There are varieties
that will produce a bushel of bulbs from a single
one in a comparatively short time, whereas others
multiply very tardily. It is rather curious to note
that the bulbs that are the most rapid multipliers
are usually the ones that produce the best flowers
and bloom most abundantly.

[280]

ON THE WATSONIA

In dividing the bulbs of the hybrid seedlings,
it is observed that some spread out naturally into
bulbs of even size, and are easily pulled apart, like
gladioli, thus being multiplied with facility. Others
grow together in clusters that must be wrenched
apart, breaking the bulb seriously, or else cut with
a knife. All these matters are taken into consid-
eration in the selection through which the few are
singled out for preservation and the many are
destroyed.

It is my custom, having selected a certain num-
ber for preservation, to cut away nine-tenths of
the seed pods in order to strengthen the bulb, thus
stimulating the fullest development.
THE CARE OF SEEDLINGS

As the Watsonia is not generally known, it may
be worth while to give a few specific directions as
to the raising of seedlings of this interesting plant.

In general it should be said that, where the
climate is suitable, the Watsonia may be raised
as easily from the seed as the gladiolus, and the
treatment required is altogether similar. My
method is to plant the seed in shallow, well drained
boxes of sandy soil, as soon as they are ripe in the
fall. By March we have, in each box eighteen
inches square, perhaps a thousand Watsonias
about six inches in height. They thrive very well
when planted as thickly as this in the boxes.

[281]

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ON THE WATSONIA

In the spring the choicest appearing plants
are transplanted singly into rows. The ones that
are not quite so choice are set out in the mass, by
breaking up the soil into squares holding fifty to
one hundred plants, all being planted in the open
field, and by fall are ready to transplant into rows
for testing.

A still more rapid method is to sprout the seed
in moist sand at the proper season in the fall, just
as the rains commence, sowing them quite thickly
in drills eight inches apart and an inch deep in
sandy soil, half the covering being sawdust. Scat-
ter a few weeds over the surface to keep the winter
winds and heavy rains from removing the saw-
dust. Early in the spring the young Watsonia
seedlings come up as lustily as blue grass on a
lawn.

Those that do not make a strong growth are
allowed to stand thickly in the row another year,
when they can be removed and planted.

For field culture, they should be planted four
inches apart in rows four feet apart, being set
quite deeply that they may resist the summer
droughts.

Of course the more careful method first sug-
gested is desirable if we are to raise plants of the
finest quality. You also get results a year or two
earlier by handling the plants individually. At

[283]

LUTHER BURBANK

the same time you insure the production of a plant
from each seed, while when the plants are handled
in a mass a good many of them no doubt fall by
the wayside.

When treated according to the first method,
many of the plants mature in the second year, and
all of them in the third, so that they can be fully
tested in that period. Moreover by the third year
each bulb has developed quite a nest of bulbs
about it, from each of which a new plant may be
grown.

The results already attained with the Watsonia
mark this plant as one that must take high place
among favorites of the flower garden. What
chiefly remains to be done is to make the bulbs
more hardy, so that they are adapted to different
conditions of soil and climate. At present the
flowers are chiefly grown in California and shipped
to the eastern market. But in due course races
will be developed that can be grown in the east,
and the Watsonia will come to rival the gladiolus
and in some respects to outrival it for all the uses
to which that flower is adapted.

Moreover it will perhaps prove possible,
through hybridizing the Watsonia with the gladi-
olus, to develop new races of plants combining
the qualities of each in a way that cannot be defi-
nitely predicted. Up to this date, 1914, I have

[284]

A Spray of Watsonias

It will be seen that the Watsonia flower is not altogether

dissimilar to the flower of the gladiolus. The resemblance,

however, is not so striking as that between the foliage of the two-

plants. The Watsonia flower is smaller than the improved

gladiolus; it has, however, a charm distinctly its own.

LUTHER BURBANK

produced a great number, say four of five hun-
dred, hybrids between Gladiolus gandavensis and
the Watsonia, in most cases using the pollen of
gladiolus (chiefly because it is more abundant and
the Watsonia is more certain of seed), but some-
times making the reciprocal cross. Only three or
four of these blossomed, largely, perhaps, because
a great number of them were very tender and
were destroyed by the frost, although older plants
of the Watsonia withstood the season.

It should be explained that the gladiolus does
not withstand the coldest part of our winter any
better than the Watsonia; but fortunately the glad-
iolus does not generally make a winter growth, so
it may be left in the ground with less danger.

Whether most of these hybrids were made
tender by crossing with the gladiolus, or whether
some new element came in through the crossing,
this experiment, which promised so much, was
finally a failure. The seedlings showed the thick
stem of the gladiolus. Some of them grew only a
few inches, while others grew to great height.

Of the hybrids that blossomed, all died next
year from gladiolus diseases.

It may be of interest to add that double white
seedlings from the Watsonia have been produced;
also double flowers of other colors, pink, light and
dark salmon, and white.

[286]

ON THE WATSONIA

We have naturally had occasion, in recent
chapters, to pay more attention to the matter of
color than to any other single flower quality. For
it might almost be said that flowers have been
developed for color alone. A certain amount of
attention has been given to modifying their forms
but this has always been subordinated to the ques-
tion of modifying their colors.

If attempts have been made to increase the
size of the flower, and to multiply its petals, the
central thought has been to produce a more strik-
ing color display. In exceptional cases, notably
that of the orchid, anomalies of form add greatly
to the interest with which a flower is regarded;
but even with the orchids, it is unquestionably the
delicate beauty of the coloration, and not merely
the grotesqueness of form, that gives the flower
popularity.

From the standpoint of the plant experimenter,
the question of color in the flower is one that has
perennial interest. In a very large number of
cases new varieties are developed solely along the
lines of color variation.

We have seen that there are almost endless
modifications of color in the same flower, partic-
ularly in such variable races as roses and poppies
and dahlias, and the case of the Watsonia, which
has just come to our attention, illustrates the

[287]

Another Cluster of Watsonias

It will be seen that the Watsonias do not vary greatly as
to form and shape of flower. Neither has there been any great
modification as to the size of the individual blossoms, or their manner
of distribution on the stem. There are individual varia-
tions, however, and the specimen here shown
has rather exceptional quality.

ON THE WATSONIA

interest associated with the modification of color
even when no other change is involved.

The white Watsonia that was discovered among
its pink fellows was given a new botanical name,
and went forth to conquer the world captioned
as a new sub-species. Yet it differed in no obvious
regard from myriads of its fellows except in the
matter of color.

It was pure white, and all of its fellows were
reddish pink. That fact gave the one Watsonia
distinction among the millions and insured the
propagation of its progeny and their migration to
the utmost corners of the earth.

EVOLUTION OF COLORED FLOWERS

Something has been said in various preceding
chapters as to the philosophy of color variation.
The origin of the colored floral envelope has been
ascribed to the influence of insects. We have been
made aware that the floral envelope was devel-
oped as an advertising device to attract insects,
that their services may be engaged for the transfer
of pollen that is so essential in keeping up the
necessary adaptability and vitality of a race of
plants.

We have been led to infer that the floral
envelope is one of the most recent developments
in plant evolution, inasmuch as the earlier forms
of plant life had no such apparatus and their suc-

[289]

LUTHER BURBANK

cessors developed it only after the evolution of
the insect tribe. And we have doubtless been cor-
rect in ascribing the ready variability of the floral
envelope to the fact of its relative newness. The
stalk and branches and leaves of the plant have
persisted, more or less modified in form but essen-
tially unchanged in functions, from the remotest
periods, and hence have attained a fixed and deter-
minate arrangement of their hereditary factors
that is difficult to disturb.

The conspicuous advertising sign that we call
a flower has been put forth so recently that it has
not attained any such degree of stability.

And in particular, the color of the flower is an
endowment that, as contrasted with the general
structure of the plant, must be thought of as only
a thing of yesterday. We are justified in believ-
ing that even among the old tribes of plants —
those whose primeval forebears have left their
remains in the geological strata — the flower is the
one structure that has been most subject to varia-
tion. And we may doubt whether there is any
flower whatever that has not changed its color
more or less within comparatively recent times,
geologically speaking.

Something has been said as to the probable
relations of the different primary colors in their
various associations in the floral envelope. We

[290]

ON THE WATSONIA

have seen that flowers of the same species may
vary from deep red to delicate violet, and that it
is the commonest thing for a species that is usually
gaudily colored to have representatives that are
pure white. And it is possible, by a careful survey
of the field, to draw conclusions as to the probable
sequence of development through which the
variously colored flowers have been evolved.

In the first place, certain inferences may be
drawn from what is known as to the hereditary
responses of different flowers, in particular when
hybridizing experiments are performed, that at
least give clues to the story of the evolution of
color.

Analogies drawn from the study of the spec-
trum are also of aid, in connection with these prac-
tical observations, in developing theories of the
philosophy of flower-coloration, which, if they
cannot be said to be definitive, have at least a large
element of plausibility and are full of interest.
THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF COLOR

It has been suggested that the earlier forms of
vegetation were probably red in color, where now
the leaf structures in general are universally
green; the basis for this belief being the observed
manner of reaction between plants of green foli-
age and those of red foliage when hybridized, the
fact that sea weeds are usually red, and the fur-

[291]

LUTHER BURBANK

ther fact that young vegetation, such as the buds
of trees in the spring, is very generally red in color,
the subsequent greenness being due to the devel-
opment of chlorophyll granules.

Just why the chlorophyll granule is green is
of course only matter for conjecture. But it is obvi-
ous that this is the ideal color for this purpose,
otherwise it would not have been so universally
adopted.

The presumption is that the plant finds it desir-
able to utilize the short rays of the upper part of
the spectrum and the long rays of the lower part —
those that stimulate chemical action chiefly, and
those that are the greatest conveyors of heat, re-
spectively — and that the intermediate rays pro-
ducing the color green are not needed, hence are
reflected or transmitted without influencing the
plant.

A possible clew to the reason for this is found
in the supposition that the plant needs the short
light waves to enable it to carry out its chemical
function of transforming water and carbon into
sugar, and that this process is facilitated by hav-
ing the tissues warmed by the long waves of the
lower end of the spectrum.

It has been calculated that the sun beating on
a leaf would raise its temperature to a point that
would destroy the protoplasm and kill the leaf

[292]

ON THE WATSONIA

outright in a very short time were it not for the
transpiration of water from the pores of the leaf,
through which the temperature is equalized.

In spite of this danger the sunlight is known
to be absolutely essential to the carrying on of life
processes, but it is obviously desirable to limit the
amount of heat as much as possible.

So the question of the heating effect of the sun
must have a share in determining the color of the
floral envelope.

A flower that blooms in the open and is exposed
to the blazing rays of the sun may advantageously
develop a glossy surface^ just as a leaf does, in
order to reflect the largest possible amount of
light; and may in addition take on to advantage
such transformation of its tissues as will make
them reflect the long heat-bearing waves of the
spectrum.

Such a flower, interpreted in ordinary lan-
guage, is red in color — for of course that is the
untechnical way of stating the facts that a given
object reflects the long rays of light, and absorbs
the others.

Contrariwise, it would be almost fatal for a
blossom of ordinary texture to develop such con-
sistency as to absorb the main bulk of the light-
waves, inasmuch as such a blossom would soon be
heated to a dangerous temperature. That, doubt-

[293]

A Typical Spike of Improved Watsonias

Mr. Burbank's improved Watsonias tend to bear the blos-
soms somewhat more compactly than was the custom with their
progenitors. This picture shows a fairly typical cluster. Hitherto
selection has been directed largely toward the improvement of
the colors. It is probable that more marked improvement
in other directions will be shown in the future.

ON THE WATSONIA

less, is why flowers that are even approximately
black are the rarest of all blossoms.

On the other hand, a flower that reflects all the
rays of light, and hence that appears white in
color, is given protection against the heating influ-
ence of the sun even though it grows in the open.
When we add that white is a conspicuous color,
the extreme abundance of white flowers is suffi-
ciently accounted for.

It is true that flowers that bloom in the shadow,
and particularly those that open in the twilight or
at night, are almost universally white, also, but
this is sufficiently explained by natural selection,
since white flowers are more conspicuous at night
than those of any other color. Moreover, it must
be recalled that white objects transmit heat less
readily than dark ones, so white is not a bad color
for a night blooming flower, inasmuch as it con-
serves the internal heat even if it is not called
upon to shut out heat from the sun's rays.
THE SEQUENCE OF COLOR DEVELOPMENT

All this is more or less axiomatic, but the fur-
ther development of the theory of flower colora-
tion involves a certain amount of assumption, and
must be held only as a tentative theory.

Briefly stated, the essentials of the theory are
that the original or earliest color of the flower was
green in imitation of the leaf. All the older or

[295]

LUTHER BURBANK

primeval types of plants — palms, pines, cypress,
ferns, etc. — have green flowers even to this day;
in some cases slightly tinged with yellow. It is
suggested that the color next developed was blue,
the genesis of which involved but a slight modifi-
cation of the molecular structure of the flower,
inasmuch as the light waves that produce blue lie
next to the green on one side in the spectrum.

The subsequent modifications of color were
made in two directions progressively.

Some flowers were modified in the direction of
the violet end of the spectrum, and others in the
direction of the red end of the spectrum. The
former were first light blue, then deep blue and
indigo — represented among existing plants, let us
say, by the larkspur and gentian — and ultimately
violet. Flowers modified in the other direction
were at first yellow then orange and finally red.

Evidence is lacking to answer the question as
to which end of the spectrum was reached first —
that is to say whether the flowers of violet color
or red were first evolved. But possibly the two
may have been developed somewhat contempo-
raneously, and they would thus take their place
in the hereditary scale more or less on an equality.

In any event, we may be fairly assured that
there were blue flowers and yellow ones, and
probably also indigo colored flowers and orange

[296]

ON THE WATSONIA

ones in existence before there were flowers of
pure violet or of deep red.

In other words we may feel that the violet-
colored flower and the red flower are the newest
things in the way of color in the plant world.

The time of development of white flowers is
more debatable. There is reason to suppose that
the white flower owes its whiteness to a combina-
tion of the conditions which by themselves would
be interpreted as greenish-yellow and as blue
respectively. It is known that these are the only
pigments that can be compounded to produce the
color white. So it is perhaps the safest assump-
tion that white flowers were evolved by the
hybridizing of greenish yellow ones and blue ones,
and that their origin antedates the development of
red flowers or of violet ones. In other cases white-
ness is due to air in the cells, and may have been
a very recent development.

Nor is all this a matter of mere unsupported
assumption. The inference that such was the
sequence of evolution of the different colors seems
logical, inasmuch as it pre-supposes the modifica-
tion of molecular structure of the flower substance
in such a way as to reflect successive rays of light
in a graded series — or rather in two graded series,
one involving shorter and shorter rays as in the
flowers that develop from blue to violet; the other

[297]

The First White Watsonia

The original 'white Watsonia was found as a "sport" in

the midst of beds of Watsonias of ordinary color, in South

Africa. The specimen became the progenitor of an entire race of

white Watsonias, so individual as to be considered by

botanists as a distinct variety. Mr. Burbank has of

course used the white Watsonias along with the

others in his crossbreeding experiments.

ON THE WATSONIA

involving longer and longer rays in the series that
developed from yellow through orange to red.

But an assumption based solely on this
plausible analogy would not call for very serious
consideration. The real strength of the theory lies
in the support given it by the observed relations
of the different flower colors when brought
together through cross-pollenation of the flowers
themselves.

It is believed, on independent grounds, that
the relations of dominance and recessiveness in
Mendelian heredity are determined exclusively, or
at least in large part, by the newness or oldness,
in an evolutionary sense, of the respective ele-
ments that make up a pair of Mendelian factors-
referring, it should be understood, to the number
of repetitions, not to the mere lapse of time.

If this assumption is correct — and there is a
large amount of evidence drawn from many fields
to support it — then a guide is at hand with which
to test the theory of color evolution

Indeed, it is largely through the application of
this guide that the theory of color evolution itself
has been developed.

Making a practical application, it would appear
that the color green, as manifested in a flower, is
so remote an inheritance that it would be recessive
to any and every other color; that blue would

[299]

LUTHER BURBANK

stand next in line of recessiveness ; and that violet
and red would be more or less on a par as colors
of pre-eminent dominance.

White, according to theory, should be
dominant to green and blue, but should itself
be recessive or hypostatic when brought in com-
bination with red or with violet. As a corrobo-
rative illustration, note that Mr. Burbank's blue
poppies, crossed with white poppies, produce only
white progeny.

It would also appear, that the factors for yellow
and for blue, which are really balanced or masked
to produce the color white, might be segregated
when a white flower is combined with another
white flower or with a flower of a different color,
white perhaps disappearing altogether and being
represented only by its disunited elements.

Moreover, we have already seen that where
various colors are segregated, two dominant colors
such as red and yellow being brought together in
the same unit system, the two may neutralize each
other and fail of tangible representation; just as
the colors gray and black are known to do in the
color scheme of the coat of the mouse.

The practical working out of the scheme is
revealed in numerous cases that we have already
examined.

Thus union of our yellow poppy with a white

[300]

ON THE WATSONIA

one that produced a crimson progeny finds ready
explanation when we reflect that yellow is com-
monly formed by the blending of the pigments
red and green, and that white is probably due to
the blending of yellow and blue. The combination
of the yellow flower and the white one may thus
be supposed to have re-segregated the colors in
such a way that yellow and blue were grouped to
form white which was in turn submerged as a
recessive factor when coupled with red; the result
being that the progeny were all outwardly red.

In a similar way may be explained the result
of combining the orange daisy with the white
daisy; and in general the multiplex presentation
of reds and pinks and yellows and whites in the
hybrids of poppies and roses and gladioli and
dahlias.

The fact that blue so seldom appears is
explained by the assumption that it was the first
color to be developed, after green itself, and hence
that it is recessive to all the other colors. When
a blue is brought out as in the case of my blue
poppy, it is unearthed, as it were, with difficulty,
and represents the bringing forth of a quality that
has been submerged from time immemorial.

Of course there are numerous flowers —
although as we have seen they are relatively rare —
that are blue in color. These are races that have

[301]

The Improved White Watsonia

The original white Watsonias lacked something of purity
of color. But Mr. Burbank has improved the variety by careful
selection, until the white Watsonias in his present colony are of such
a quality that their white has been described as "the whit-
est white in nature." In this regard, the Burbank
improved Watsonias rival the Shasta daisy.

ON THE WATSONIA

either retained the ancestral color unmodified
because it served them well in adaptation to their
environment; or they are plants in which the re-
cessive blue, which must occasionally appear in
the course of hybridizations, was preserved and
restored to prominence because it served its
purpose better than the other colors, whatever
they might be, that had supplanted it. As might
be expected, deep or indigo blue flowers are more
abundant than light or pure blue ones.

It is perhaps not without significance that blue
flowers have usually a white counterpart — the
bluebell furnishes a familiar example. Blue and
white, according to the theory just presented, lie
close together in the evolutionary scale. Either
will be recessive to red or orange or violet; and
it is only flowers from the germ plasm of which
these dominant colors have been largely removed
that are likely to develop blue or white races.

Yet the fact that the white flower carries a
strain of yellow is an ever present menace to its
whiteness, as it may furnish the basis at any time
for variation that will introduce yellow strains
which stand a good chance of supplanting the blue
and white ones.

Some further illustrations of the application of
this theory of the evolution of color in flowers will
appear in our subsequent studies. For the rest,

[303]

LUTHER BURBANK

the reader who is interested in speculations of this
character will be able to make application for
himself, and to test the theory as to its details, in
particular if he enters the fascinating field of plant
development.

[END OF VOLUME IX]

— Flowers offer the most inviting
field for the amateur, even while
they still hold their fall attraction
for the practiced experimenter,
and one can hardly proceed far
with flower experiments without
becoming interested in the
phenomena of color-variation.

LIST OF

DIRECT COLOR PHOTOGRAPH PRINTS
IN VOLUME IX

Amaryllis page

Haemanthus Blossoms 70

A Burbank Crinum 73

Pollenizing the Amaryllis 76

Chilean Wild Amaryllis 79

Peruvian Amaryllis 82

A Cluster of Giants 85

A Rare Chinese Amaryllis 88

A Bed of True Amaryllis 91

A Burbank Amaryllis 93

Yet Another Burbank Amaryllis 96

A Double Amaryllis 99

Buttercups

A Bed of Scotch Buttercups 28

Callas

Giant and Dwarf Callas 258

The Fragrant Calla 261

The Lemon Giant Calla 264

Canna

The Wyoming Canna 234

An Experimental Canna 237

An Improved Canna 240

The Burbank and Tarrytown Cannas 243

An Unnamed Canna 246

Another Experimental Canna 249

King Humbert Canna 252

A Bed of King Humbert Cannas 255

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued)

Coreopsis Page

Coreopsis or Golden Wave 35

Dahlias

A Cluster of Dahlias 205

Bed of Dahlias 208

A Primitive Type of Dahlia 210

Simple but Pleasing 212

Tending to Vary 214

Still Wider Variations 216

A Stage of Progress 217

An Interesting Seedling 219

A Dahlia of the Cactus Type 221

Dahlia Variations 223

More Chips from the Dahlia Workshop 225

Experimental Only — Yet not Lacking in Beauty 227

Approaching Perfection, 229

Color Variations at Its Limit 231

Daisies

Shasta Daisy and One of Its Parents 134

Graceful of Flower and Stem 137

A Bed of Shasta Daisies 140

A Freak Daisy 143

Bouquet of Fluted Shastas 146

Semi-double Shastas 150

A Bouquet of Double Shastas 153

Bouquet of Freak Daisies 156

Daffodills

A Bed of Daffodills 25

Forget-me-not

The Forget-Me-Not 31

Geranium

A Metamorphosed Leaf 9

Variation in color as well as leaf form 12

Gladiolus

A Contrast in Gladioli 166

A European Hybrid Gladiolus 169

An Improved Gladiolus 171

Increased Size and Compact Growth 173

Bed of Experimental Gladioli 176

A Graceful Variant 179

Color Variation in Seedling Gladioli 182

Another Group of Color- Variants 185

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued)

Page

A Burbank Giant Gladiolus 187

Massed on the Stem 188

A New Blue Gladiolus 191

A Moth-like Gladiolus 193

A White Gladiolus 195

Symmetrical and Attractive 197

The Largest of Their Race 199

All Round the Stem 201

Lily

The Washington Lily 266

Pentstemons

Clusters of Pentstemons 159

A Bed of Pentstemons 163

Planting

Bulb-Planting Time at Santa Rosa 38

Poppies

A Shirley Poppy Variation 102

Another Shirley Poppy Variation 105

Yet Another Shirley 108

Santa Rosa Shirley Ill

Bush of Santa Rosa Shirley s 113

A Characteristic Specimen 116

A Double Red Shirley Poppy 119

A Double White Shirley 122

Contrasting /Colors 125

Bed of White Mexican Poppies 128

The Burbank Blue Poppy Contrasted with White Ones.... 131

Rose

The Burbank Rose Frontispiece

An Attractive Chilean Rose Bush 43

Roses at Sebastopol 46

A Mammoth Bouquet 49

Another View of the Proving Ground 51

Unnamed Beauties 54

The Santa Rosa Rose 57

A New Yellow Rambler 59

The Corona Rose 62

Chilean Wild Roses 64

Blue Roses 67

Sweet Peas

Fragrant Sweet Peas 6

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued)

Tritoma Page

Yellow Tritoma or Red-Hot Poker

Tritomas Showing Color Variation is

All-Red Tritomas

Watsonia

A Cluster of Watsonias ••••••-. H«

Color Variation Among the Watsonias *<*>

Other Watsonias • *JJ

Watsonias in the Proving Grounds £82

A Spray of Watsonias J85

Another Cluster of Watsonias 288

A Typical Spike of Improved Watsonias 294

The First White Wntsonia 298

The Improved White Watsonia 302

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