190 LUTHER BURBANK 



mens being selected, and finally the best one 

 being saved for seed. Very great improvement 

 was made considering that this was a wild plant 

 never before under cultivation. The selected 

 varieties do not as yet breed true from the seed, 

 but all the new ones are wonderfully improved 

 in form, size, grace, and with the greatly in- 

 creased blooming qualities a real transformation 

 has been effected in a flower which even in the 

 wild state was beautiful. 



THE TRIBE OF CRINUMS 



In an earlier chapter mention was made of 

 hybridizing experiments in which certain mem- 

 bers of the amaryllis tribe were crossed with 

 certain of the crinums. It is desirable to make 

 additional reference to some experiments in 

 which the crinums themselves were variously de- 

 veloped and crossed with rather striking results. 

 The hybrid crinums are a splendid group of 

 bulbous flowering plants in which the bulbs are 

 in many cases of enormous size, and the leaves 

 are broad and long, making the plants very 

 conspicuous. 



Some of the leaves, indeed, are of gigantic 

 size, and the stalk that bears the flowers may 

 grow to a height of from four to six feet. The 

 flowers themselves are of variant color, from 



