184 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



No plant comes absolutely true from seed, everything varies some- 

 what. You go into a field of cabbages or into a field of poppies. At 

 first sight or at a casual glance they do look to be the same, but after 

 careful examination you will find no two plants really alike. 



I have noticed in some plants of annual or other flowers when select- 

 ing for compactness of habit, which, I must own, has often been one of 

 my aims, another unlooked-for good quality developing in my selections 

 — namely, intensity of colour. Some years ago 1 started selecting the 

 Eschscholtzias. The old varieties are very rambling in their habit, 

 take up a lot of room and are not very free-flowering. I began to 

 look out for those showing more compactness and erectness of habit, 

 and after selecting this way for some years, and improving the habit 

 each year, I succeeded in fixing what I named the 1 Erecta Compacta ' 

 class. I selected this 1 Erecta Compacta ' habit both out of the old 

 1 Mandarin ' and the old ' Carminea rosea,' and in the course of doing 

 so, I found as I selected the more erect and compact plants each year, I 

 also got much greater depth of colour in the flowers, and to-day the 

 Eschscholtxia 1 Mandarin Erecta Compacta ' which I introduced is far 

 deeper and richer in colour than the old ' Mandarin,' as well as being of 

 far better habit for a garden, more erect, more compact, far more free- 

 flowering, and my 'Intus roseus compacta' or Carter's 'Carmine King,' 

 produced in the same w r ay, is not only more erect, compact, and free- 

 blooming, but much more intense in colour than the old 1 Carminea rosea ' ; 

 it is a rich carmine rose, but has the same colour inside the flower as 

 outside. In the old 1 Carminea rosea ' the pale rose colour was and is only 

 on the outside of the petals — inside, the petals are creamy white, so that 

 the flower looks a rose colour only on a dull day or in the evening when 

 it is closed ; on a sunny day it looks white, because one sees only the 

 inside of the flower. To have the flower the same rich deep colour both 

 inside and out is a great advantage, and this we have in 'Intus roseus.' 

 Strange to say, in 1904 I had fixed this and it was introduced to 

 commerco in the spring of 1905 ; the following year the same thing 

 was brought out by Mr. Burbank in America, under the name of 

 ' Burbank 's Crimson Eschscholtzia,' v 'and by Messrs. Carter as 'Carmine 

 King,' so no doubt we had all three been working on the same lines, only 

 I was one year in front of the others. It had taken me about seven years 

 to select and fix it. Then, again, out of this we have selected a very 

 different and distinct colour with the same habit. One we introduced 

 last season, called ' Erecta Compacta Dainty Queen,' has pretty shell-pink 

 llowers. 



In Godetias the same thing has happened with me. The old varieties 

 of Godetia of years ago were all tall, straggling plants, and undecided in 

 colour, like the old ' Rubicunda splendens.' To-day we have the dwarf, 

 compact, massive 'blooming, and intensely rich-coloured 'Sunset' and 

 'Crimson Glow,' hut many years of patient selecting have been required. 

 ' Sunsei ' I Introduced four years ago ; 'Crimson Glow,' a deeper colour, 

 lust yenr. 



1 have found it advantageous in my selecting, generally speaking, and 

 more particularly with these Eschscholtzias, Godetias, &c, to pick out the 

 ' t 1»< it plant amongst the many growing, and to save seed from that to 



