THE AMARYLLIS AND THE POPPY 



incisions are not so deep. Its foliage is wholly 

 different from that of either parent. The 

 Pilosum is of solid color throughout its petals, 

 as is the other parent, the offspring presenting 

 a combination of purple and scarlet as noted. 

 As one studies more into this line of his 

 experimentation, the wonder grows steadily, — 

 the possibilities of what he may yet accom- 

 plish in this one branch seem limitless; for, 

 aside from the production of the strange forms 

 which appear in the foliage of the new pop- 

 pies, and the development of the great poppy 

 itself which stands apart among flowers, he 

 has done what might well be called the 

 impossible: he has changed the native Cali- 

 fornia poppy from gold to crimson. Many 

 acts has this man done which savor of the 

 miraculous, none more marvelous than this. 

 Once, when he was looking over a field of 

 these gorgeous flowers that cover the Cali- 

 fornia hills and roadsides in the early summer 

 as with a splendid mantle of gold, he discov- 

 ered one blossom which bore a faint trace of 

 crimson, a slender line along down its yellow 

 satin chalice. It was a strange stain of Nature. 

 She had done her work well to place this odd 



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