22 LUTHER BURBANK 



invented that practically solved the problem. 

 This consisted of a trap so arranged that when 

 the gopher pokes his nose against the trigger a 

 charge of powder explodes beneath the animal, 

 killing him instantly bj^ concussion. 



This device proved more effective than all 

 others. Sometimes thirty-five or forty gophers 

 were destroyed in a day about the borders of my 

 gardens. And in a short time the gophers were 

 so nearly exterminated that they ceased to be a 

 serious pest. 



1 When these old enemies of the bulbous plants 

 were thus finally subjugated, after years of 

 effort, I determined to take up again the culti- 

 vation of the gladiolus. 



In the meantime, the gladiolus had been much 

 under cultivation elsewhere, and its general and 

 special qualities had been greatly improved. 



But there remained plenty of modifications 

 that could be made to advantage, and in starting 

 a new series of experiments I had no difficulty 

 in discovering faults to be remedied. 



Recent Work with the Gladiolus 



One of the modifications, to which reference 

 has already been made, had to do with the 

 arrangement of the flowers on the stalk. My 

 success in developing a race having the flowers 



