68 LUTHER BURBANK 



closely similar, but it seems not to be clearly es- 

 tablished as to whether they come from the same 

 stock, although the individuals from which the 

 two races have developed were undoubtedly dis- 

 covered independently. 



On receiving the first bulb of the white Wat- 

 sonia I planted it on a damp piece of sandy 

 land at Sebastopol, but the bulbs did not thrive 

 there, and it was two or three years before any 

 of them bloomed. I learned later through ex- 

 perience that the bulbs do not require too much 

 soil. They thrive especially in soil that contains 

 a mass of leaves, and under proper conditions 

 they put out numerous branching stalks, about 

 four feet in height, which for months together 

 are covered with beautiful snow-white flowers, 

 which have, as already stated, much the general 

 appearance of small gladioli. 



The general conditions of soil under which 

 the Watsonia thrives are similar to those re- 

 quired by the gladiolus. 



As soon as a colony of white Watsonias was. 

 fairly established, I began making crossing ex- 

 periments, using for the cross the reddish pur- 

 ple species and including, a few years later, also 

 a pink variety of the W. Ardernei that was sent 

 out by a Dutch florist. As usual in these experi- 

 ments, one species after another was crossed 



