LUTHER BURBANK 



heads, and presenting the gorgeous anH variegated 

 colors of the dahlia of to-day, is in itself an object 

 lesson in the possibilities of plant development 

 that is nothing less than inspiring. 

 UNEXPECTED RESULTS 



Not only may plants be led along the line of 

 some desired variation, but there is an element of 

 chance in the enterprise that adds very greatly 

 to its interest. 



There is always a certain allurement about the 

 happening of the unexpected. It is highly gratify- 

 ing to select a plant for some desired quality and 

 to have it respond to selection in such wise that a 

 variety presenting this quality is finally produced. 

 But it is doubly gratifying to see here and there, 

 quite unexpectedly, the putting forth of a flower 

 of an unpredicted color, or the development of a 

 form of which one hitherto had no conception. 



In a field of cultivated poppies, for example, 

 where there were millions of specimens, all of sub- 

 stantially identical color, so that the field made a 

 blazing sheet of yellow, I have come upon a single 

 blossom of the purest white. 



To find this white blossom, isolated among the 

 millions, is an experience that repays one for 

 years of earnest effort and makes amends for 

 almost any antecedent disappointment. 



It was such a chance discovery as we have seen 



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