THE SHASTA DAISY 



never would they find another such a master 

 as they had had. 



So average conditions must be taken into 

 account, and an average best flower be made 

 for these conditions. It is a cardinal principle 

 of Mr. Burbank's life never to let a plant de- 

 ceive him by show of some surpassing excel- 

 lence which, under ordinary conditions, would 

 not be apt to manifest itself. "If I deceive 

 myself," he puts it, "I deceive the public, 

 too." From the medium plants the stock was 

 grown and re -grown until he produced a 

 flower at last combining all the desirable 

 qualities with adaptability to average condi- 

 tions. This flower was from three inches in 

 diameter for the smaller ones to over six 

 inches in diameter where conditions ap- 

 proached the ideal. 



In breeding these new daisies still another 

 attribute was constantly in mind, that of 

 hardiness, hardiness in the growing plant, 

 keeping qualities in the cut -flowers. So all 

 through the tests only the sturdiest plants 

 were kept ; all the weak and sickly ones were 

 at once destroyed. It was for this very charac- 

 teristic of endurance that the little wild daisy, 



141 



