A BACKWARD GLANCE 293 



spring, being submerged by those having the 

 usual fixed tendency. 



But by separating them and saving their seeds, 

 within a few brief seasons we were able to 

 produce three new kinds of the California poppy. 



Each kind had all of the parent poppy charac- 

 teristics but one. They were California poppies 

 in habits, growth, shape, form, grace, texture, 

 and beauty. 



Yet in color they differed from the California 

 wild poppy almost as a violet differs from a 

 daisy. 



One of these freaks developed into a solid 

 crimson poppy, another into the pure white 

 poppy, and still another into the fire-flame poppy 

 all now well known. 



The details of method employed and the appli- 

 cation of these methods and the underlying 

 principles to the improvement of other flowers, 

 fruits, trees, and useful and ornamental plants, 

 will be left for later chapters. But, as an illus- 

 tration, this poppy experiment brings three facts 

 to view. 



First, that nature creates no absolute dupli- 

 cates. 



Second, that although each of nature's cre- 

 ations has its own distinctive individuality, all 

 the time she takes special precautions to fix, pre- 



