136 LUTHER BURBANK 



scarlet blossoms is striking enough to challenge 

 the attention even of the least observant. 



The fact that the various species can readily 

 be combined, while at the same time they show 

 such variation as to color of blossoms, gives them 

 obvious interest from the standpoint of the ama- 

 teur plant experimenter. It should be noted, 

 also, that there are some salvias with white leaves, 

 one of these having foliage so thoroughly covered 

 with a white thick woollike growth that the leaves 

 make excellent penwipers. The experimenter 

 who works with one of these varieties could 

 develop interesting modifications of leaf through 

 selection, and, of course, crossing methods could 

 be utilized to accentuate the variation. 



Another plant that is exceptionally interest- 

 ing because of the work that has been done with it 

 in recent years is the familiar evening primrose 

 (OEnothera). 



Mention has been made in another place of the 

 work of Professor DeVries, which furnishes the 

 foundation for his celebrated theory of mutation. 

 It will be recalled that Professor DeVries found 

 specimens of evening primrose that departed so 

 widely from the form of their parent as to seem 

 to constitute new species. The question whether 

 these mutations were of unexplained origin, or 

 whether they were really due to hybridization, is 



