LUTHER BURBANK 



the amateur may advantageously begin his work 

 in selective breeding. 



The rose and the carnation naturally suggest 

 themselves, but they have been so much worked on 

 that they do not leave so much opportunity for 

 wide improvement as some less popular flowers, 

 though offering grand opportunities for immediate 

 but less unique results. 



The tulip is inviting, but calls for a good deal 

 of patience. 



Perhaps the four o'clock would serve the pur- 

 pose as well as any other common flower. Also 

 the hyacinth, the scylla, and the gladiolus are 

 peculiarly good flowers on which to work. There 

 are many beautiful varieties of all of these but 

 new sorts could readily be produced. Moreover, 

 they are grown from bulbs, so any new varieties 

 may easily be perpetuated — a consideration that 

 is by no means without significance to the amateur 

 who wishes to obtain striking results with the least 

 expenditure of time. 



Details as to numerous other flowers, including 

 both very common ones and those that are less 

 usual, and varying from the simplest to the most 

 complex, will come to our attention as we now 

 take up in succession the records of my own work 

 during the past four years in the development of 

 new races of flowers. 



[40] 



