LUTHER BURBANK 



Yet the facts of variation, even within a few 

 generations, are too obvious to escape attention. 



And the compromise has been found, as every- 

 one knows nowadays, in a recognition of the fact 

 that time is long, and the further fact that natural 

 selection may be instrumental in maintaining the 

 fixity of a race, provided the environing conditions 

 are unchanged, just as it may be instrumental in 

 somewhat rapidly changing the form of a race 

 when the environing conditions have altered. 

 HYBRIDIZING THE TIGER FLOWERS 



From the outset I found that the various tiger 

 flowers throve in my gardens, particularly in the 

 sandy land at Sebastopol and in sandy beds 

 especially prepared for them at Santa Rosa. 



As I have already said, I began at once crossing 

 and hybridizing the various species and varieties, 

 and of course carried out selection among the seed- 

 lings and made new crossings, according to my 

 usual custom. The type species with which the 

 experiments began was the Tigridia pavonia, of 

 which there are numerous varieties. Another form 

 known, as the Conchiflor or Shell flower was uti- 

 lized, and subsequently the T. buccifera, a form 

 more recently introduced from Mexico. 



An especial effort was made to introduce also 

 into the combination the strains of a plant of yet 

 another genus, the Herbertia platensis. This is a 



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