LUTHER BURBANK 



bena with certainty. But it is obvious that the 

 hybridizers and those who further developed the 

 plant by selection were chiefly influenced by form 

 and color, as has been the case with so many other 

 flowers, and paid little attention to the question 

 of fragrance. 



The verbena has been made to develop won- 

 derfully symmetrical clusters, and its flowers have 

 taken on the most gaudy hues. But in the main, 

 as already pointed out, the odor even of the most 

 beautiful specimens is disagreeable rather than 

 attractive. 



Yet one of the wild parents, as we have just 

 noted, was fragrant; and our previous studies of 

 heredity give us full assurance that the factors for 

 fragrance must be retained in some at least of the 

 hybrid progeny, and will now and again make 

 themselves manifest. That such is really the case, 

 my fragrant verbena clearly enough demonstrates. 

 To be sure its fragrance is not just that of the 

 original. Some slight chemical modifications have 

 taken place, doubtless through the blending of 

 other chemicals that represent the odoriferous 

 qualities of the other species, and it is only by rare 

 exception that an individual appears having just 

 the right combination to produce an attractive 

 perfume. 



But the point of interest is that when such an 



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