AND HIS PLANT SCHOOL 67 



When the plum trees blossomed in a burst, Opium awoke 

 from the long, long nap to greet Oriental with a wealth of 

 blossoms of many colors. Oriental was dressed in scarlet, 

 the large single flowers looking very attractive. Burbank 

 chose .one of the finest blooms and shook it gently over 

 Opium's head, so that the pollen from Oriental's anthers 

 fell upon the stigma of Opium. In this way the two 

 poppies combined, and the teacher looked with great in- 

 terest to some wonderful poppies as the result. 



The next season the plants from these mixed seeds were 

 of great variety in both form and color, and especially so 

 was their foliage, no two being alike. Some had woolly 

 leaves, some hairy ones, while others were quite smooth. 

 Some were a light green, others were quite dark. The 

 flowers were scarlet, crimson, white, purple, and yellow. ' 

 The seed pods or vases differed greatly. Some of them 

 were from four to six times larger than those of either of 

 the original poppies, others were scarcely larger than the 

 stem that bore them, while in some the pod was entirely 

 absent. 



The seed pod of the poppy is much like a pepperbox, 

 with holes not on top but under the brim. In this way the 

 seeds are safely housed from the weather until they are 

 ripe, when you can shake them out as you would pepper 

 from a box. If left to itself, the pod will bend over and 

 sway to and fro for the wind to scatter the seeds. Surely 

 Mother Nature has been very thoughtful in providing so 



