NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



Another difficulty with the gladioli was that 

 the petals were so thin and fragile they would 

 not stand the California sun, so he bred with 

 this end in view, producing flowers at last that 

 were thick of petal and able to withstand the 

 heat of the warmest day. In order to accom- 

 plish the ends desired, thousands upon thou- 

 sands of seedlings were grown and crossed and 

 re-crossed in many blendings. 



While this work was in progress, he set 

 about another feature which may be men- 

 tioned here incidentally, the teaching of the 

 gladioli to bloom around their entire stem 

 instead of on one side, as had been their life- 

 long habit. After long years of selection, he 

 produced gladioli which have the hyacinth 

 form instead of the old top-heavy form bloom- 

 ing on but one side of the stem. The new 

 flower stands erect, with all its blossoms evenly 

 distributed upon its stem. At the same time 

 he greatly increased the flower in size and in 

 beauty, giving many new notes in the scheme 

 of color. 



I saw Mr. Burbank one day walking among 

 a number of his men as they were working on 

 the proving grounds at Sebastopol. They 



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