198 LUTHER BURBANK 



The flower stems are thrown up in great 

 abundance on long, slender, stiff, wiry stalks, 

 and the graceful upright or drooping flowers are 

 of every color except blue crimson, yellow, and 

 white being the characteristic colors. 



The variety of Ixia known as the Wonder has 

 double flowers that are exceptionally handsome. 

 The group of ixias make so striking an appear- 

 ance that they almost compete with the giant 

 amaryllis on my grounds in May for first place 

 in their appeal to the average visitor. 



The two plants are utterly different, but each 

 in its way is most individual and striking; the 

 Ixia being characterized by gracefulness and 

 fragile beauty, the other by its massiveness. The 

 flowers of the Ixia are only about two inches in 

 diameter ; those of the others eight to ten inches, 

 yet the massed effect of the Ixia is so striking 

 that it competes in interest with the larger 

 flower. 



I have worked in a more or less desultory way 

 on the Ixia for the past fifteen years. The vari- 

 eties under cultivation are so varied as to their 

 ancestry, and hence have so strong an inherent 

 tendency to variation that it is not necessary to 

 cross them. Even the double variety is prob- 

 ably at least half a century old. My work of 

 improvement was for the increase in size and 



