16 LUTHER BURBANK 



At that time there was no great interest taken 

 in America in growing gladiolus seedlings, but I 

 was able to secure a large number of the best 

 types of gandavensis, and also obtained bulbs 

 of about a dozen of the natural species. 



The material was obtained not alone from 

 American growers and the cultivators of Europe, 

 but also directly from South Africa. 



From the outset experiments were begun on a 

 comprehensive scale, raising the gladioli by the 

 half acre and acre on my Sebastopol place. The 

 first fault observed in the gladiolus was that the 

 blooms would not stand our California sunshine. 



Under the glare of the California sun, the 

 blooms would wither in a single day, sometimes 

 in a single hour. 



Other serious defects were that the stalks were 

 too slender, and the flowers too far apart on the 

 stalk. Moreover, the flowers were small, they 

 were illy arranged on the stalks, giving an untidy 

 appearance to the plants; and often they were 

 only half open when at their best. 



The colors of many varieties, on the other 

 hand, were fine, it being evident that selection 

 had been made largely for color, by some at least 

 of the earlier experimenters. My first object, 

 then, was to remedy the defects just mentioned 

 rather than to modify the color of the gladioli. 



