74 LUTHER BURBANK 



Then we wanted to attract the insects so they would 

 carry our pollen to other spikes. 



"Nature taught us to change the color of the green to 

 white. Some of my relatives, however, chose pale yellow 

 as their color, while others preferred dark yellow or orange. 



"I was the first calla to enter the school/' continued 

 the speaker. "I am known here as * White Calla,' but by 

 many people I am incorrectly called 'The Lily of the Nile.' 

 You see I am not a lily at all, for lilies have six petals, 

 which bend gracefully from a central stem. 



"The master has trained many of his calla class to bear 

 very large blossoms. This he does by selecting, year after 

 year, the largest of our number for promotion. As a 

 reward for his labors one of our class succeeded in pro- 

 ducing a blossom ten inches across on a stem six feet high. 

 So far as we know, this is the largest calla that ever graced 

 a stalk so tall, and we are proud of our class record. We 

 feel like challenging the world, having size, grace, and 

 beauty, the points at issue. 



"In another class of white callas, which we call 'the 

 little gems/ the master trained for small flowers and short 

 stems, so that there might be a calla suitable for bouquets. 

 Each year he chose as the graduates the very smallest and 

 most perfect callas. At last a regular Tom Thumb was 

 obtained. A perfect white blossom less than two inches 

 across grew on a stem about ten inches high. 



"But by far the largest number of callas to enter our 



