NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
The climate of California is particularly fa- 
vorable to his work because of the length of 
seasons in which tests may be carried on,—a 
perpetual season, in fact, for some lines of the 
work. On one day you may see one plot of 
ground filled with a mass of flaming poppies: 
at another time it may be white with lilies, or 
it may be crimson with the royal amaryllis or 
blue with larkspurs, or purple with some little 
wild flower—it is never twice alike. When 
one test is ended, the plants are dug up and 
burned and the ground made ready for the 
next experiment. Whenever the soil begins 
to show signs of running low in nutriment, 
fertilizers are used to restore it. But all this is 
taken into account, for the finished plant must 
go to the world equipped for general, normal 
condition of soil and climate. 
As has been noted in the chapter on the 
general methods, breeding and selection are 
the basic facts in all this work. When the 
flowers of a given test are in full blossom the 
work of pollenation begins. For this work, 
when it presents only general problems, Mr. 
Burbank relies almost entirely upon his finger- 
tips. He does not recommend that an ama- 
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