LUTHER BURBANK 



It was by selecting seed from these plants that 

 I grew in the next generation a number of stalks 

 in which this tendency to multiple striping was 

 accentuated, thus producing a race of corn with 

 leaves beautifully striped in six colors, to which 

 the name Rainbow Com has been given. 



In perfecting the variety, nothing further was 

 necessary than to select seed from the plants that 

 showed the most even distribution of the stripes, 

 and the most vivid display of color, as well as 

 uniformity of size and early ripening, as this was 

 a very late maturing variety, even for California. 

 In earlier generations there had been a marked 

 tendency to variation, some plants producing only 

 a single stripe of red, some only a stripe or two of 

 yellow or white. But by rigid selection through 

 several years these variants were, eliminated, and 

 a variety produced that may be depended on to 

 exhibit rainbow leaves of a pretty uniform type. 



My further experiments with this variety con- 

 sisted of crossing the Rainbow Corn with some of 

 the sweet corns, in the hope of giving to this hand- 

 some ornamental plant the capacity to bear sweet 

 corn of good quality. 



These experiments are still under way, but 

 they give no great promise of immediate success, 

 as the stripe seems to be recessive. 



A rainbow-leaved corn that bears good edible 



[26] 



