BREEDING FOR PERFUME 
The search was unavailing, however, and a 
year passed by. Again, in the dusk of just such 
an evening, he happened to be near the ver- 
benas, and again the ghost of an odor came 
upward. This time he was not to be denied, 
and he did not leave the task until he had 
crept on hands and knees through the verbena 
beds, discovering, at last, the plant with the 
subtle fragrance, the faint sweet suggestion of 
the trailing arbutus, when it comes up in fair, 
pink beauty through the white snows of the 
North. 
The plant was at once isolated and then 
began a rigid selection of plants from its seeds, 
following the same process observed in the 
dahlia. Year by year the work of selection 
went on with the utmost care and patience, 
and year by year the plants showed stronger 
and gradually stronger traces of the mother 
odor. At last the fragrance was fixed, greatly 
intensified in power, so that now it is double 
the strength of the trailing arbutus and identi- 
cal with it. The flowers that were scentless 
have been given a powerful perfume, so firmly 
established that it will not fade. 
It occurred to Mr. Burbank one day that it 
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