LUTHER BURBANK 



and, even if these are not at once fixed, they 

 can of course be propagated indefinitely by bulb 

 multiplication. Here, as with other plants, all 

 forms grown from the offshoots of a bulb will 

 reproduce the qualities of the parent form, and a 

 new race may thus be spread indefinitely. 



Notwithstanding the great diversity of colors 

 of the different hybrid races of gladiolus, there 

 have until recently been no gladioli that could 

 accurately be described as pure white. 



Where so-called white varieties have appeared, 

 they have a dinginess that suggests the presence 

 of an underlying pigment; also there are spots, 

 stripes, or featherings of other colors, especially on 

 the lower petals. That the hereditary factors for 

 pigmentation are really present in these so-called 

 white flowers, is demonstrated by the fact, already 

 noted, that in crossing two of these we may pro- 

 duce varieties that bear colored flowers. 



But the fact that these crosses of white gladioli 

 produce flowers showing a great diversity of color, 

 suggests obviously, the possibility of sorting out 

 among these offspring, in the second generation, 

 some that contain only the hereditary factors for 

 whiteness. I have made this attempt, and by rigid 

 selection have produced a race of white gladioli 

 which, when further perfected, will constitute, I 

 think, an interesting acquisition. Already these are 



[196] 



