FOOD AND FLAVOR 203 



growers while others produce long, runnerlike 

 branches. A species of this plant of exactly the 

 same flavor, but growing as a shrub, with bril- 

 liant fuchsialike flowers, has been sent me from 

 the high mountains of Chile. These evidently 

 sprang from one original ancestor, but in our 

 California varieties it is an insignificant trailing 

 plant, and its relative of the Southern Hemis- 

 phere is a tall shrubby plant with brilliantly col- 

 ored flowers. The Chilean plant is also there 

 called yerba buena. 



I have attempted to cross this plant with the 

 species from Chile, hoping thus to stimulate 

 variation and perhaps to produce a plant of 

 larger size, and through selection a variety of 

 permanent value. But the flowers of the plant 

 are quite small, making the process of cross- 

 pollenization a rather delicate one, and my 

 experiment has hitherto not proved successful. 

 This, however, is doubtless due to operating on 

 too small a scale. I have no doubt that more 

 persistent efforts will result in hybridizing these 

 species, notwithstanding they came from differ- 

 ent hemispheres. 



Other mints with which some unusual re- 

 sults have been accomplished are the sweet 

 marjoram (Origanum) and various species of 

 thyme. 



