88 LUTHER BURBANK 



isfactory crop there, as elsewhere in warm, arid 

 climates. The plant has aroused very unusual 

 interest in conservative Great Britain, where the 

 older varieties thrive and have been extensively 

 grown, specimens having been obtained direct 

 from my plantation by Robert Holmes, a mem- 

 ber of the Royal Horticultural Society, and 

 others. The royal gardens of England are now 

 supplied with it. 



Meantime the Emperor of Japan and the King 

 of- Italy obtained it directly from my gardens, 

 and the plant has been taken back to its original 

 home in New Zealand, from whence came the 

 material for its production, and in its improved 

 or, one might better say, metamorphosed condi- 

 tion, it now finds favor there, whereas its ances- 

 tral form was justly regarded as a plant of no 

 importance. 



THE QUALITIES OF THE NEW RHUBARB 



It must not be supposed that this widely ex- 

 tended approval of the rhubarb is dependent on 

 any mere caprice. It is based on qualities of the 

 most enduring and substantial character, other- 

 wise it would not have been possible to plant 

 thousands of acres of this crop in California and 

 to find a ready market for the entire product in 

 the eastern United States. In point of fact, so 



