BREEDING FOR PERFUME 



The search was unavailing, however, and a 

 year passed by. Again, in the dusk of just such 

 an evening, he happened to be near the ver- 

 benas, and again the ghost of an odor came 

 upward. This time he was not to be denied, 

 and he did not leave the task until he had] 

 crept on hands and knees through the verbena/ 

 beds, discovering, at last, the plant with the! 

 subtle fragrance, the faint sweet suggestion of 

 the trailing arbutus, when it comes up in fair, 

 pink beauty through the white snows of the 

 North. 



The plant was at once isolated and then 

 began a rigid selection of plants from its seeds, 

 following the same process observed in the 

 dahlia. Year by year the work of selection 

 went on with the utmost care and patience, 

 and year by year the plants showed stronger 

 and gradually stronger traces of the mother 

 odor. At last the fragrance was fixed, greatly 

 intensified in power, so that now it is double 

 the strength of the trailing arbutus and identi- 

 cal with it. The flowers that were scentless 

 have been given a powerful perfume, so firmly 

 established that it will not fade. 



It occurred to Mr. Burbank one day that it 



181 



