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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1905 



of age, which measure two feet and over in diameter at a 

 height of three feet above the ground. It is claimed that 

 these trees are by twenty-five to fifty per cent, more rapid 

 growers than any known. The quality of the wood for 

 finishing is said to be very superior, and takes on a beautiful 

 finish. 



No one expects a plant to nourish without proper nourish- 

 ment. The plant responds quickly to genial culture. In 

 color combination a new type is found or else the greater 

 peculiarities of one of the parents. Color is certain waves 

 of light. Soils known as alkali produce colors in which the 

 red is predominant. In soils with 

 acid combination blue is most 

 conspicuous. 



Permanence of the new types 

 is assured. A gain in color, form, 

 vigor, size, fragrance or quality, 

 in the direction of variation, once 

 secured, is as liable to endure as 

 new varieties of fruits, berries 

 and flowers which have been es- 

 tablished for generations. 



To enumerate all the varia- 

 tions upon established types built 

 up under Mr. Burbank's meth- 

 ods would be impossible. There 

 is no end of them. Upon no 

 species of plant life, be it flower, 

 berry or fruit, has crossing and 

 hybridizing failed to produce the 

 most wonderful changes. When 

 a change is noted the avenue is 

 opened for variations in every 

 direction. Time is the greatest 



element in all plant modifications. It may take years to 

 develop to the full realization of the hopes of the plant 

 breeder. Any property, color, shape, size or fragrance 

 may remain dormant, to be brought out under the influence 

 of improved cultivation or the stimulation of some influence 

 imparted by the hybridizing process. The best or the 

 worst qualities of a plant may be confined in a single one. 

 The expert plant breeder will combine many traits in order 

 to produce the type he is searching for. 



The element of precisions enters into all of Mr. Bur- 

 bank's operations. The depth to which seeds should be 

 planted, nature of soil required, the proper temperature, ex- 



Daisy Shasta, One-Third Natural Size 



posure, shady or otherwise, moist or dry — all of these par- 

 ticulars are observed and recorded with infinite care. When 

 the plants appear a careful selection is made of the most 

 promising. These selected plants are never lost sight of. 

 Then preferences, for their mute language is understood, are 

 humored. If color is the object sought, every other tendency 

 is lost sight of but that; so for size, form or fragrance. Later 

 a combination of all these qualities may be merged into the 

 one. Cultivation will not produce new type, but crossing 

 and hybridizing most always will. 



Pollination is effective only at the moment selected by the 



plant itself. To some plants the 

 time is when the bees appear. 

 The evening primrose selects the 

 time when the night moths are 

 abroad. Pollen is sometimes ap- 

 plied with the finger; a camel's- 

 hair brush is used in the case 

 of certain plants. Pollen is 

 gathered early in the morning. 

 Sometimes buds are picked and 

 the pollen taken as they ripen 

 and open. The plants thus 

 treated are tagged and watched 

 and their character and habits re- 

 corded. It may be years before 

 the results of all this care and 

 detail are known to a certainty. 



Mr. Burbank expresses him- 

 self as follows regarding the vast 

 possibilities of plant breeding. 

 They can hardly be estimated. 



" It would not be difficult 

 for one man to breed a new 

 rye, wheat, barley, oats or rice which would produce one 

 grain more to each head, or a corn to produce an extra 

 kernel to each ear, another potato to each plant, or an apple, 

 plum, orange or nut to each tree. 



" What would be the result? Nature would produce 

 annually, without extra cost or effort, 5,200,000 extra 

 bushels of corn, 15,000,000 extra bushels of wheat, 

 20,000,000 extra bushels of oats, 1,500,000 bushels more 

 of barley and 21,000,000 extra bushels of potatoes. Not 

 for one year only, but as a permanent legacy for all future 

 generations,'" 



Truly a wonderful outlook. 



The Nursery in America 



By Walter A. Dyer 



HE scientists have been making some in- 

 teresting experiments of late to determine 

 the effect of various colors on the human 

 nervous system. If their enthusiasm has 

 carried their theories too far, they have at 

 least shown that there is an element of truth 

 in the idea. In its broader aspect, no one will seriously ques- 

 tion the theory that bright, harmonious colors in one's sur- 

 roundings tend to greater happiness and a healthier nerv- 

 ous condition than the more somber hues. 



Let us, then, take so much for granted, and also the state- 

 ment that children are fully as sensitive to their surroundings 

 as adults. A learned paper might easily be written to prove 

 that a child's health and disposition may depend, to a remark- 

 able degree, upon his surroundings, whether they be bright 

 and cheerful or gloomy and uninteresting. 



The study of pedagogy has done much to improve the 

 minds, bodies and characters of American children in school. 



But how about the home conditions? Until recently very 

 little was ever done to give the child a room in which he 

 could grow up healthy and happy and endowed with a love 

 for the clean and the beautiful. Even to-day there are only 

 a few real nurseries in this country worth writing about. 

 Houses in which the decorations of parlor, library, dining- 

 room and chamber are all that could be desired have no 

 place in them for a nursery worthy of the name. 



The day is fast approaching when the rtursery will receive 

 as much attention as the other rooms in the American house, 

 but at present we must look to Europe for our models. Of 

 course, there are children's rooms, but they are, for the most 

 part, meaningless in their decorations. A crib, a few pic- 

 tures, a little chair or two and the toys are about all that 

 constitute the furnishings of most of them. 



England and Germany are countries of homes, and it is 

 in these countries that we find the best examples of the mod- 

 ern nursery. Some of the best designers and decorators in 



