54 The Third and Fourth Generation 



to improve the florist's daisy. The common 

 American daisy, a weed in many sections of the 

 country, is exceedingly vigorous and is a free 

 bloomer, but neither the squatty form of the 

 plant nor the dirty white blossom cluster makes 

 it particularly attractive. The English daisy 

 has a blossom cluster that is much larger, and 

 the plant is of fine upright habit, but it is rather 

 delicate, demanding sheltered situations. The 

 Japanese daisy has small flower clusters, but 

 these are of a wondrous pearly luster. Burbank 

 conceived the project of combining the hardi- 

 hood and free-blooming quality of the American 

 species, the fine habit and large size of the 

 blossom cluster of the English species, and the 

 luster of the Japanese. He cross-pollinated 

 two of these and then bred the hybrid plants 

 with the third species and succeeded in achiev- 

 ing the desired combination. The new daisy 

 he called the Shasta daisy. 



Burbank's potato, produced early in his 

 career and sold to an eastern seed man for 

 one hundred and twenty-five dollars, is esti- 

 mated by the United States Department of 



