'^ WHO PAINTS THE LILY 169 



gardeners to cultivate some of the neglected 

 weeds and enjoy some pleasant surprises. *'A 

 weed is but an unloved flower," is one of his 

 maxims. 



It is not only weeds that can be changed into 

 something rich and strange. It is a striking 

 characteristic of the Burbank age of horticultural 

 evolution that many flowers which seemed good 

 enough to our ancestors have been so beautified 

 and "painted" and transformed that our grand- 

 mothers would hardly know them. The "old- 

 fashioned garden" flowers are nice to talk 

 about, but they wouldn't please us if we now 

 saw them side by side with their educated 

 descendants. 



This is true particularly of pansies, poppies, 

 sweet peas, peonies, dahlias, gladioli, nastur- 

 tiums. But there are many others in which the 

 recent changes and improvements are quite as 

 astonishing and thrilling. 



The snapdragons and larkspurs and zinnias of 

 to-day, for example, are infinitely more varied 

 and artistic than those of the last century, and 

 the same may be said of verbenas, salpiglossis, 

 cannas, tulips, and other bulbs, irises, cosmos, 

 asters, columbines, petunias, and many others. 



Hundreds of professional gardeners, as well as 

 amateurs, have been busy in recent decades 

 "painting the lilies" and other beautiful flowers. 

 Hundreds of others, Mr. Burbank urges, should 

 indulge in this fascinating occupation, which 



