214 LUTHER BURBANK 



But he had taken it for granted that all sweet 

 peas are fragrant, and had before failed to ob- 

 serve that these particular ones had no perfume 

 whatever. 



Yet this seedsman is an expert who has been 

 for nearly forty years in the business of grow- 

 ing flowers. Like perhaps most others, he had 

 taken it for granted that all varieties of fragrant 

 flowers are fragrant. Series of experiments in 

 crossbreeding would be necessary to reintroduce 

 the perfume to these varieties that have lost this 

 finishing quality. 



This case is mentioned to illustrate the fact 

 that a given quality may be dropped out of a 

 strain of flowers while another quality is being 

 bred in. Also to emphasize the point that it is 

 usually well to consider more than a single qual- 

 ity in any breeding experiment. At least it is 

 desirable to see that the qualities already present 

 are not lost in the process of gaining new ones. 



PRODUCING NEW COLORS 



I am disposed to think that all shades of all 

 colors that can be produced by blending of the 

 primary colors are within the possible attain- 

 ment of any flowering plant. 



The obvious fact that certain species, and in, 

 some cases whole genera, produce only red flow- 



