LAWN AND DOCKYARD 



tion the flower was not only made to take on the 

 greatly modified form with which we are familiar, 

 but its color scheme was indefinitely modified, al- 

 though the original red and yellow, together with 

 the white and crimson of certain other species, 

 form the basis of coloration of all the cultivated 

 varieties. Almost any of these show sufficient 

 diversity of color to make interesting experiments 

 in blending and modifying their color scheme 

 feasible. 



Equally interesting studies of color variation 

 may be made with the different types of roses. 

 Added zest is given to these experiments by the 

 fact that many of the roses are not readily cross- 

 fertilized. Mr. Burbank tells us, for example, that 

 he has grown upward of two hundred thousand 

 seedlings from the crimson rambler pollenated 

 with all the ordinary roses that are under culti- 

 vation in California. He found that the pollen 

 of only a few roses proved effective. Here and 

 there a rose like the Empress of India or the 

 Cecil Bruner would pollenize readily with the 

 rambler, and the hybrid progeny would sometimes 

 cross readily with numerous other hybridized 

 roses with which the crimson rambler itself could 

 be united with difficulty, or not at all. Under 

 these conditions, it is obvious that the hybrids 

 soon become very complex as to their ancestry, 

 and the sorting out and isolation of their heredi- 

 tary factors in new combinations may become a 

 fascinating puzzle. 



Still another familiar flower with which work 

 [199] 



