LUTHER BURBANK 



Whereas the white clover iii its common native 

 forms is a relatively small plant, dwarfed beside 

 the red and crimson clovers, there are South 

 American species or sub-species that are of rela- 

 tively gigantic growth. One of these that I 

 received from South America was a seeming 

 "sport"— possibly due to an accidental hybridizing 

 with some other species — that grew several times 

 as fast as any of the others in a lot of seedlings. 



A single plant of this giant variety would 

 spread from four to six feet, the foliage being 

 proportionately enlarged, while a neighboring 

 plant would perhaps grow ten to fifteen inches. 



Selection among these rapid growers enabled 

 me to develop several varieties that had the char- 

 acteristic of growing to quite uncloverlike size. 

 But there is no sale for new clovers unless the seed 

 can be furnished by the ton, and as I had no 

 opportunity to produce seed on a large scale, the 

 giant races were ignored, when they had ceased 

 to interest me from an experimental standpoint. 



I worked for a number of years also upon a 

 clover that, without having exceptional qualities 

 of stem, produced very large foliage. In this case 

 also the development was made solely by selection, 

 the largest leafed individuals of a fraternity being 

 selected for preservation generation after genera- 

 tion. 



[86] 



