NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
same purpose (of crossing). These were more 
tender and came from more tropical regions. 
Some, Burbank was even obliged to keep in 
his hothouse, but, when crossed with the 
garden amaryllis, they gave hybrids which felt 
at home in the California climate.” 
De Vries, in concluding this part of his 
comment, again referred to the means which 
Mr. Burbank has made use of to shorten the 
duration of life from seed to seed, noting that 
“many a tree or shrub with us (in Europe) 
only commences blossoming when it is ten or 
fifteen years old,” a great obstacle especially 
when repeated crossings are necessary. He 
then calls attention to the means which Mr. 
Burbank has utilized, threefold in character: 
“The selection of California, with its beauti- 
ful climate; the selection of the first flowering 
seedlings, and his method of grafting.” 
He then describes Mr. Burbank’s method of 
hurrying hybrids forward with great rapidity 
by grafting upon a vast scale, as elsewhere 
described. 
Down through long rows of green beds 
where plants of many kinds are under test, 
showing in the gradations from the small, 
76 
