11.0 THE SEED-GROWER. 



One of the finest additions to flowering plants in 

 modern times is the Shirley poppy, which was bred by 

 Rev. W. Hicks, Secretary of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society in England. In 1880 he noticed in a waste 

 corner of his garden a patch of the common wild field 

 poppy, one solitary flower of which had a very narrow 

 edge of white. This one flower he marked and saved 

 the seed of it alone. Next year, out of perhaps two 

 hundred plants, he had four or five on which all the 

 flowers were edged. The best of these were marked 

 and the seed saved, and so on for several years, the 

 flowers all the while getting a larger infusion of white 

 to tone down the red until they arrived at quite pale 

 pink and one plant absolutely pure white. He then 

 set himself to change the black central portions of the 

 flowers from black to yellow or white, and at last 

 secured a fixed strain with petals varying in color from 

 the brightest scarlet to pure white, with all shades of 

 pink between, and all varieties of flakes and edged 

 flowers also, but all having yellow or white stamens, 

 anthers and pollen and a white base. 



Burbank, the California plant-breeder, practicing on 

 the line of selection, has largely increased the size of 

 the common field daisy, the geranium and other flowers. 

 One of his latest productions is a red California poppy. 

 In the wild flower the color is yellow or orange. Hav- 

 ing observed a single plant which bore flowers of orange 

 streaked with red, he saved its seeds, and after a course 

 of years of careful selection, similar to that described of 

 Hicks and his poppy, Burbank has finally succeeded in 

 obtaining a fixed variety bearing entirely red flowers. 



To Henry Eckford, of Wem, Shropshire, England, 

 the world is indebted for the great improvement in the 

 flowers of sweet peas, made by him within the past 



