LUTHER BURBANK 



in superlative degree. It may be, indeed, that the 

 desired quality appears only as a faint trace or 

 suggestion. 



Such was the case, for example, with a certain 

 specimen of the calla in which Mr. Burbank de- 

 tected a faint trace of a pleasant perfume. He 

 carefully preserved the seeds of that calla, and 

 by similarly selecting among the descendants he 

 produced a race of perfumed callas. In the same 

 way he produced scented petunias and verbenas 

 that have gained great popularity. 



Again, Mr. Burbank once found a specimen of 

 the California poppy that had a faint line of red 

 extending down one of its golden petals. This 

 specimen was transplanted and treasured. Among 

 its progeny was a specimen that showed a slightly 

 more conspicuous red line on a petal of one of 

 its flowers. The seed of this specimen was pre- 

 served ; and so on generation after generation, the 

 tendency to red being accentuated in a few indi- 

 viduals in each generation; until finally a new 

 variety of poppy had been produced in which the 

 normal golden color had disappeared altogether, 

 and the entire flower was of a bright crimson 

 justifying the name of "Fireflame" that was 

 given it. 



The Santa Rosa Shirley poppy, with its deli- 

 cately crenated petals; the silver-lining poppy, 

 with the inner surface of its petals transformed 

 from red to white, and the wonderful blue poppy, 

 selected out, through generations of breeding, as 

 the remote descendant of an individual red poppy 



[34] 



