290 LUTHER BURBANK 



form may approximate the ideal at which the 

 plant developer aimed there are always varia- 

 tions that suggest new possibilities that perhaps 

 were not contemplated at the outset of the 

 experiment. 



And the improved Shirley poppy was no ex- 

 ception to this general rule. As work continued 

 with the new flower, the form of its petals modi- 

 fied until they were exquisitely delicate, and its 

 colors blended until the most artistic and deli- 

 cate shades were predominant, attention was 

 attracted one day to a specimen growing among 

 the thousands that revealed a shade different 

 from any other previously seen. 



On inspecting this flower I seemed to detect, 

 underlying the normal color, a smokiness sug- 

 gestive of a half -concealed blue pigmentation. 



Naturally this was carefully guarded and 

 the seeds of this plant preserved and sowed 

 by themselves the following season to make 

 the basis of a different series of selective 

 experiments. 



The history of this new colony duplicated 

 that of other groups of plants undergoing selec- 

 tion. Year by year an increasing proportion of 

 flowers with the smoky hue were found and 

 always among these a few that revealed the 

 obscure blue a little more clearly. 



