122 NEW VARIETIES 



varieties from seeds? "Too hard," you will probably reply, or 

 "Not time enough." One might as well say that base-ball is too 

 difficult to learn, or that it takes too long to bring up a child. In 

 England many, if not most, of the important improvements 

 among ornamental plants are made by amateurs. And we will 

 surely come to such a state. Nothing can stop it. It is not a case 

 of duty. As soon as we get the idea that we are missing the best 

 "fun" of all, we will tumble at it head over heels. 



Just to illustrate what one amateur can do, take the case of 

 the Shirley poppies. All the Shirley poppies in the world are the 

 descendants of one wild poppy which was saved by an English 

 clergyman in 1880. In about ten years he had secured practically 

 all the dainty colours and markings we know to-day, and had 

 succeeded in eliminating all trace of black or purple from the 

 flower. Then he gave (he did not sell) the product to the world, 

 and for twenty years he has had the pleasure of knowing that 

 Shirley poppies are grown and loved in every good garden the 

 world over. That was "fun." The same sort of thing has been 

 done over and over again, and it need never involve any painful 

 publicity, such as Mr. Burbank has to endure. For example, 

 most people do not know who originated the Shirley poppies, viz., 

 the Rev. W. Wilks. 



Again, the daffodil (which is the most popular bulbous flower 

 in England) has been improved chiefly by amateurs. Yet it takes 

 about seven years from seed to flower and eight years more to 

 propagate enough bulbs to distribute fifteen years in all to 

 produce a new variety! We Americans do not, as a rule, know 

 where we shall be living fifteen years from now. That's where the 

 English clergyman has the advantage over us. But his advantage 

 is usually much exaggerated. For any renter can arrange with 



