PLANNING A NEW PLANT 193 



methods of hybridizing and selection that my 

 earlier work had fully established. Having 

 tested the usual limits of making new plant com- 

 binations, I was presently able, like any other 

 trained technician, to apply the knowledge thus 

 acquired toward far more definite results than 

 were at first possible. 



In the case of the Shasta daisy, the plans were 

 all laid out beforehand as to just what type of 

 flower I wished to produce. 



The ideal of a white blackberry was also, of 

 course, a perfectly precise and definite one. 



Obviously the fragrant calla, the stoneless 

 plum, the early-bearing cherry, the sugar prune, 

 and the spineless cactus are other instances in 

 which the ideal pursued was as clearly conceived 

 and as definitely outlined in advance of my 

 earliest experiments as a cathedral is outlined in 

 the mind of the architect before he commences 

 his preliminary drawings. 



In one case as in the other the details may be 

 modified as the work progresses, but the general 

 idea of the structure aimed at be it new fruit 

 or new building must be conceived with a scien- 

 tific definiteness from the outset. My original 

 conception of a new plant creation, in the cases 

 outlined and in a large number of others, cer- 

 tainly bore as close a resemblance to the final 



Vol. 2 Bur. G 



