THE LUTHER BURBANK SOCIETY 



second consideration would have shown that, 

 beautiful though they were, they fell far short of 

 accomplishing this ideal. 



For these were but black and white photo- 

 graphs, and black and white photography as gen- 

 erally practiced, shows form only and little or no 

 color gradation. 



That is to say, a bed of brilliant crimson pop- 

 pies appears in the ordinary black and white pho- 

 tograph as a mass of black flowers. 



A bed of beautiful blue balloon flowers appears 

 in the ordinary photograph as though the flowers 

 were white. 



In short, it will be seen that with yellow, 

 orange, and red flowers and fruits showing black, 

 and with blue flowers showing white, and with 

 the greens and blue-greens in an intermediate 

 tone, little can be portrayed of a subject which is 

 full of reds and yellows and greens and blues — 

 little justice can be done a subject which is all 

 color. 



Add to this the fact, which the reader has 

 already gleaned, that color plays a vital part in Mr. 

 Burbank's work, and it will be readily seen that 

 the black and white photographs on hand that 

 April day in 1912, magnificent specimens of the 

 art as they were, were far from suitable for the 

 purposes in mind. 



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