144 GARDENING WITH BRAINS ^ 



crimson, white, and fiery-red blossoms of rare 

 charm to garden epicures. How he did it is no 

 secret; nature might, or might not, have done 

 in ten thousand years what he did in ten. 

 Starting with freaks, or sports that is, golden 

 poppies that accidentally had a white or red 

 line he enlarged those streaks by selection, 

 each generation having a little more white or 

 red, until the yellow was eliminated entirely. 



No less remarkable and enchanting is another 

 of Burbank's creations an absolutely new thing 

 under the sun the Silver Lining poppy. Like 

 many other novelties, it is not in Burbank's 

 own seed catalogue because he sold it to Burpee, 

 who thus felicitously describes it: "single flow- 

 ers; rich scarlet, spotted with black; each spot 

 appears to be covered with a shield of white 

 tissue paper; altogether unique." Note also 

 the soft, dull-green tint of the black spot under 

 the shield. 



In his Vol. IX, p. 123, Burbank tells how he 

 developed this Silver Lining from an accidental 

 white line in one flower between the black 

 center and the crimson petal. While this strik- 

 ing curiosity is not as widely known as it should 

 be, Burbank's most glorious creation in the 

 poppy field is, fortunately, to be seen in many 

 thousands of gardens the improved Shirley. 

 He was not the first to educate this poppy. 

 He himself relates, in the volume just referred 

 to (pp. 107-120), how an English clergyman, 



