THE SHASTA DAISY 
never would they find another such a master 
as they had had. 
So average conditions must be taken into 
account, and an average best flower be made 
for these conditions. It is a cardinal principle 
of Mr. Burbank’s life never to let a plant de- 
ceive him by show of some surpassing excel- 
lence which, under ordinary conditions, would 
not be apt to manifest itself. “If I deceive 
myself,” he puts it, “I deceive the public, 
too.” From the medium plants the stock was 
grown and re-grown until he produced a 
flower at last combining all the desirable 
qualities with adaptability to average condi- 
tions. This flower was from three inches in 
diameter for the smaller ones to over six 
inches in diameter where conditions ap- 
proached the ideal. 
In breeding these new daisies still another 
attribute was constantly in mind, that of 
hardiness, hardiness in the growing plant, 
keeping qualities in the cut-flowers. So all 
through the tests only the sturdiest plants 
were kept; all the weak and sickly ones were 
at once destroyed. It was for this very charac- 
teristic of endurance that the little wild daisy, 
141, 
