THE CAMASSIA 263 



the fertility of the soil, usually from eight to six- 

 teen inches. The flower stalk in ordinary soil 

 varies with the different species from eighteen 

 inches to nearly four feet in height. 



The flowers are usually purple, blue, or rarely 

 white. In some of the new hybrid species the 

 color has changed to rose, and in others to various 

 shades of crimson and yellow. 



All the camassias are bulbous, of course, like 

 other members of the lily family. But there is a 

 great difference in the size of the bulbs among 

 the different wild species, and, as will appear 

 presently, there is enormous variation when the 

 different species are hybridized. 



Hybridizing the Camassias 



Experiments on a large scale with the 

 Camassia have been carried out for more than 

 twenty years, including work with five species. 



So far as I am aware, no one had undertaken 

 to improve any of these until my experiments 

 were instituted, about 1890. 



The first work was done with a species known 

 as Camassia Leichtlinii, which grows abundantly 

 on Vancouver Island. Considered as a flowering 

 plant this is the finest of the varieties. It grows 

 almost altogether in crevasses of rocks, but it 

 produces very attractive large, deep purple flow- 



