LUTHER BURBANK 



We have seen that when any given variation 

 is in question, there is a tendency to much more 

 rapid change after the experiment has progressed 

 a certain number of stages. 



Similarly a flower or fruit that the public at 

 first accepts rather grudgingly may at last become 

 so popular that it is impossible to produce it 

 rapidly enough to meet the demand. 



The Burbank rose, to be sure, did not fail of 

 recognition from the outset. But its gaining of the 

 gold medal as the best bedding rose at the St. 

 Louis International Exposition in 1904 was doubt- 

 less the thing that advertised it most extensively, 

 and led to its rather exceptionally rapid accept- 

 ance by the public. 



On my own part, I look with particular pride 

 on this rose, not so much because it received the 

 gold medal as because competent judges every- 

 where have admitted that it deserved the recogni- 

 tion thus given it as the best bedding rose. 



I have produced many plant developments that 

 are much more spectacular than the new rose, and 

 many that have elements of far greater novelty 

 and interest from the standpoint of both plant 

 de\ eloper and the general public. Yet I may be 

 permitted to indulge in a rather exceptional satis- 

 faction over the success of this flower for the rea- 

 son that the rose is probably the most popular of 



[42] 



