THE AMARYLLIS AND THE POPPY 



incisions are not so deep. Its foliage is wholly- 

 different from that of either parent. The 

 Pilosum is of solid color throughout its petals, 

 as is the other parent, the offspring presenting 

 a combination of purple and scarlet as noted. 

 As one studies more into this line of his 

 experimentation, the wonder grows steadily, — 

 the possibilities of what he may yet accom- 

 plish in this one branch seem limitless; for, 

 aside from the production of the strange forms 

 which appear in the foliage of the new pop- 

 pies, and the development of the great poppy 

 itself which stands apart among flowers, he 

 has done what might well be called the 

 impossible: he has changed the native Cali- 

 fornia poppy from gold to crimson. Many 

 acts has this man done which savor of the 

 miraculous, none more marvelous than this. 

 Once, when he was looking over a field of 

 these gorgeous flowers that cover the Cali- 

 fornia hills and roadsides in the early summer 

 as with a splendid mantle of gold, he discov- 

 ered one blossom which bore a faint trace of 

 crimson, a slender line along down its yellow 

 satin chalice. It was a strange stain of Nature. 

 She had done her work well to place this odd 



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