LAWN AND DOCKYARD 



while to recall details already given as to Mr. 

 Burbank r s work with the gladiolus. He has 

 worked with many varieties, and has raised the 

 bulbs by hundreds of thousands; and there is 

 scarcely a quality of bulb or stalk or flower that he 

 has not modified in one direction or another. 



The bulbs have been made to produce bulblets 

 rapidly; they have been rendered hardy; and in 

 particular they have been made relatively immune 

 to disease. The stalks have been caused to grow 

 to gigantic size, and to bear flowers not merely on 

 one side, as they were formerly wont to do, but in 

 spirals that showed the flowers in a solid cluster, 

 the blossoms facing in all directions. The flowers 

 themselves have been very markedly increased in 

 size, and given brilliancy of coloration and re- 

 markable keeping quality. 



Mr. Burbank says that the possibilities in ex- 

 perimenting with color in the gladiolus rival the 

 experiments that a painter makes with the pig- 

 ments of his palette. Mr. Burbank himself has 

 a remarkable color sense, and he takes particular 

 delight in modifying the shades of color of his 

 flower creations, and enhancing their delicacy and 

 beauty. He has found that certain combinations 

 of colors can be made, quite as in the case of the 

 artist's pigments, with pleasing results, and that 

 other combinations should be avoided. If a pink 

 gladiolus, for example, is combined with a white 

 one, the result will probably be a paler pink that 

 is not pleasing. On the other hand, it was by 

 combining a small purplish gladiolus, imported 



[185] 



