NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
Another difficulty with the gladioli was that 
the petals were so thin and fragile they would 
not stand the California sun, so he bred with 
this end in view, producing flowers at last that 
were thick of petal and able to withstand the 
heat of the warmest day. In order to accom- 
plish the ends desired, thousands upon thou- 
sands of seedlings were grown and crossed and 
re-crossed in many blendings. 
While this work was in progress, he set 
about another feature which may be men- 
tioned here incidentally, the teaching of the 
gladioli to bloom around their entire stem 
instead of on one side, as had been their life- 
long habit. After long years of selection, he 
produced gladioli which have the hyacinth 
form instead of the old top-heavy form bloom- 
ing on but one side of the stem. The new 
flower stands erect, with all its blossoms evenly 
distributed upon its stem. At the same time 
he greatly increased the flower in size and in 
beauty, giving many new notes in the scheme 
of color. 
I saw Mr. Burbank one day walking among 
a number of his men as they were working on 
the proving grounds at Sebastopol. They 
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