LUTHER BURBANK 



Now, however, it appears that a process has 

 been perfected through which, by chemical treat- 

 ment, the dried everlasting flowers are given a 

 degree of permanency and toughness of fiber that 

 makes them suitable for use in trimming hats. 

 Moreover, the grace and beauty of the new Austra- 

 lian star-flower are qualities not possessed by any 

 other everlasting. Hence the milliner's desire to 

 secure them in quantity. 



Although I could not undertake to meet so com- 

 prehensive a request, I have nevertheless been ex- 

 perimenting for a number of years with various 

 tribes of everlastings. These are plants that orig- 

 inally came from the Cape of Good Hope, and are 

 hence known commonly as the Cape everlasting. 

 There is an Australian star-flower that is pretty 

 closely related, which is also an everlasting, and 

 it is with this that my chief work has been done. 

 This was sent me by my collector in West Aus- 

 tralia, who first discovered it. 



With the more familiar tribes of everlastings I 

 have been well acquainted since boyhood, but it is 

 only in recent years that I have given them serious 

 attention. They are of many colors red, pink, 

 crimson, yellow, orange, and white. Some of them 

 that are annuals in the eastern states became per- 

 ennials in California, even growing throughout the 

 winter. The everlastings with which I have ex- 



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