URING the past few years when "Shasta Daisies" were being bred and educated 

 up to their present state more admiration has been bestowed upon them by 

 visitors than Upon any other flowering plant growing on my grounds, and with 

 good reason, for today no other flower can compare in extent of usefulness. Their first 

 qualification is hardiness. They can be grown out of doors by everybody where it is 

 not cold enough to kill oak trees. Second, they are perennial, blooming better and more 

 abundantly each season. Third, they can be multiplied rapidly by simple division and 

 they are not particular as to soil. Fourth, they bloom for several months — in California 

 nearly all the year. Fifth, the fiowers are extremely large and graceful — averaging 

 about a foot — often more — in circumference, with three or more rows of petals of the 

 purest glistening whiteness, on single, strong, stiff, wiry stems, nearly two feet in 

 length. This peculiar grace and remarkable whiteness cannot, of course, be shown on 

 paper. These "Shasta Daisies" should not be confounded with the coarse Chrysanthe- 

 mum lacustre of the Catalogues or the common "American field daisy." 



The "Shasta Daisies" have been produced by first combining the weedy, but free 

 flowering American species with the rather large, but coarse, European species and the 

 Japanese species (Nipponicum) , after which rigid selection through a series of years 

 produced the present wonderfully useful and beautiful strain. "Shasta" is only the first 

 of the new type, some of which were for the first time exhibited in the window of a 

 prominent San Francisco fiorist. Crowds of people visited the establishment to inquire 

 about the latest floral wonder. The blooms when cut remain perfectly fresh and in 

 good condition for two weeks or more. Think, if you can, what other flower possesses 

 all the above qualities. Many new and graceful forms have lately appeared among the 

 "Shasta Daisies" and well marked colors are now appearing in a flower which was never 

 before seen except in white. Some are almost perpetual bloomers and lately some per- 

 fectly double ones have appeared. 



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