64. LUTHER BURBANK 



people would be glad to have them for cultiva- 

 tion. But past experience teaches me that I 

 have no alternative in the matter. If these 

 bulbs were permitted to go out they would pres- 

 ently be exploited by some one as "Burbank's 

 Best Watsonias," or under some still more 

 spectacular title, and my reputation as a 

 producer of fine varieties would suffer, as it 

 has many times in the past through similar 

 deception. 



So there is no recourse, after selecting the 

 comparatively small numbers of bulbs that give 

 greatest promise for the carrying on of the ex- 

 periment, but to destroy all of the remainder, 

 even though, as in the case of the Watsonias, 

 these may number a quarter of a million bulbs 

 of considerable intrinsic merit, representing an 

 enormous amount of labor. 



A FLOWER THAT RIVALS THE GLADIOLUS 



The Watsonia has been somewhat recently in- 

 troduced, and has made its way slowly. So it 

 may not be superfluous to tell the general reader 

 that this plant bears a close resemblance to 

 the gladiolus. It is indigenous to South Africa, 

 one species being found also in Madagascar, 

 and is represented by a number of wild species, 

 among which two or three have preeminent 



