168 LUTHER BURBANK 



dooryard, or park, and it may be grown as far 

 north as New York and New England. 



Being a monotypic tree, one would not expect 

 it to show very great variation. But no very 

 keen powers of observation are required to see 

 that the tulip trees are not identical, and doubt- 

 less their variation is enough to afford oppor- 

 tunities for interesting experiments, though 

 there is nothing on the earth at the present time 

 with which to combine them. 



Exceptional interest should attach to a line of 

 experiment in which the plant developer is deal- 

 ing with racial traditions of such antiquity and 

 such fixity. Meantime, the fact that the tree has 

 a beautiful flower gives opportunity for a line of 

 experiment that is usually possible only among 

 herbs and bushes, inasmuch as most of our trees, 

 as the reader is well aware, are wind-fertilized, 

 and hence do not bear conspicuous blossoms. 



There are several other trees, however, that 

 resemble the tulip tree in the matter of blossom 

 bearing, and that are not altogether unlike it 

 in general appearance, some of which have cor- 

 responding interest, being representatives of 

 ancient forms, even if not quite rivaling the tulip 

 tree in the length of their unmodified pedigrees. 



The catalpa and the magnolia may be named 

 as perhaps the chief representatives of these 



