THE SHASTA DAISY 305 



which was to be one of the chief charms of 

 my ideal daisy. So year by year the rows of 

 daisies were inspected in quest of a plant bearing 

 blooms whiter than the rest; and seeds were 

 selected only from the prize plants. 



The daisy spreads constantly, and one clump 

 will, if carefully divided, presently supply a 

 garden. But of course each plant grown from 

 the same plant is precisely like the parent, and 

 while a large number of daisies were secured 

 that combined approximate whiteness with all 

 the other good qualities sought, yet the purest of 

 them all did not appear to be unqualifiedly 

 white. 



And when my own judgment was confirmed 

 by the decision of the artist, the determination 

 was made to seek some new method of further 

 improvement that should erase the last trace of 

 offending shade. 



As a means to achieve this end, I learned of 

 another, the Asiatic daisy known to the botanist 

 as Chrysanthemum nipponicum; and presently 

 obtained the seed of this plant from Japan. 



AID FROM JAPAN 



This Japanese daisy was in most respects in- 

 ferior to the original American oxeye with 

 which these experiments had started. It is a 



