7 2 



LUTHER BURBANK 



one that seemed to outdo all the rest in its profusion of 

 blooms, for it carried ninety-one flowers on a four-foot 

 stalk. The bulbs were as great a study as were the blooms, 



differing greatly in 

 color, form, and size. 



Out of that large class 

 of two hundred and fifty 

 thousand new lilies, 

 Burbank selected fifty 

 that came up to his 

 ideal that had re- 

 warded his tireless ef- 

 forts by being obedient 

 to his requests. 



" Can my thoughts be 

 imagined," said Bur- 

 bank, "after twenty- 

 six years of care and 

 labor, as I walked 

 among them on a dewy 

 morning, and looked 

 upon these new forms 



of beauty upon which other eyes had never gazed? Here 

 is a plant six feet high with bright yellow blooms; beside 

 it one only six inches high with darkest red flowers; farther 

 on one pale straw, or snowy white, or with curious dots or 

 shadings. Some deliciously fragrant, others faintly so; 



One of the fragrant new lilies. 



