LUTHER BURBANK 



Some of the wild forms seem almost perfect, 

 yet when taken under cultivation and carefully 

 selected they prove susceptible of betterment. 



The hybrids, in my experience, are not as vari- 

 able as might be expected. But this is no doubt 

 because the plants with which we worked were 

 themselves hybrids. In point of fact, one can sel- 

 dom be sure, in working with the golden rods, that 

 one is working with pure species. 



But such complications, of course, give added 

 interest to the work of the plant developer after 

 he has the fundamentals of the method fairly in 

 hand. And I can think of few problems that would 

 be more interesting than to attempt to untangle 

 some of the hereditary complications among the 

 golden rods. The fixing of types by selection; the 

 improving of the best existing ones; and the devel- 

 opment of new types by hybridization these are 

 all methods that offer opportunity for fascinating 

 experiments. 



Whoever takes the trouble to make friends of 

 the golden rod is not likely to regret his experience. 



Any old-fashioned flower 

 garden will furnish abundant 

 material for all the experi- 

 ments that any amateur 

 need care to undertake. 





