THE CAMASSIA 269 



cases, and it is only a matter of time until double 

 camassias will be produced. 



All along the line, then, the flowers of the 

 camassias have been improved by selecting from 

 among the best of the hybrids. Twenty thousand 

 bulbs have been under observation at the same 

 time, and improvement has been rapid. 



In the end, the camassia will prove to be an 

 ornamental plant of distinct value, highly prized 

 for its flowers. 



But it will be prized also for its bulb, which, 

 in the developed and selected hybrids, is assuming 

 satisfactory proportions, as already pointed out, 

 and which has undoubted food value, surpassing 

 the potato even, both as to nutriment and flavor. 

 And of course the work of development in this 

 direction is only at its beginning. The results 

 already attained justify the expectation that the 

 bulbs of the developed camassias will be of really 

 notable size, constituting a garden vegetable of 

 very exceptional food value. 



The wild camassias generally produce but few 

 offsets. But some of the hybrid ones not only 

 produce numerous offsets, but tend to divide like 

 the garlic, sometimes making five or six enormous 

 bulbs in a season. Of course this habit has been 

 carefully encouraged among the seedlings, as this 

 rapid multiplication will be of obvious importance 



