ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES 



The failure to give attention to the matter of 

 fragrance sometimes leads to the cultivation of a 

 special variety of fragrant blossom that has alto- 

 gether lost its perfume. An illustration of this 

 came to my attention not long ago when visiting 

 the seed farm of the best known seedsman in 

 America. He showed me his new varieties of 

 sweet-peas with great pride; and when I called his 

 attention to the fact that a number of them were 

 totally lacking in fragrance of any kind, he was 

 not a little surprised. 



He was breeding sweet-peas for immense size 

 and had succeeded, through selection, in produc- 

 ing very striking varieties. 



But he had taken it for granted that all sweet- 

 peas are fragrant, and had before failed to observe 

 that these particular ones had no perfume 

 whatever. 



Yet this seedsman is an expert who has been 

 for nearly forty years in the business of growing 

 flowers. Like perhaps most others, he had taken 

 it for granted that all varieties of fragrant flowers 

 are fragrant. Series of experiments in crossbreed- 

 ing would be necessary to reintroduce the perfume 

 to these varieties that have lost this finishing 

 quality. 



This case is mentioned to illustrate the fact that 

 a given quality may be dropped out of a strain of 



[27] 



