BURBANK'S 
1918 NEW CREATIONS 
IN SEEDS 
(CULTURAL DIRECTIONS ON PACKETS) 
"Guautli" or "Quinoa"— A New Breakfast Food 
A Forgotten Cereal of the Ancient Aztecs 
"Among the tributes paid to Montezuma by the pueblos of Mexico was a certain 
grain of ivory whiteness and more minute than a mustard seed, called by the 
Aztecs huauhtli." This seed was described in 1629 by Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon 
as "smaller than mustard seed" and ripening when the temprano (early) maize 
begins to tassel. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca also found this grain to be a food 
staple on the West Coast, taking the place of maize. The botanical identity of this 
seed, which was for a long time unknown, has lately been named by Sereno Watson, 
Amarantus leucocarpus. 
This plant has been under cultivation and close observation on my farms for 
ten years or more and has been greatly improved by selection; a more delicious 
breakfast, food was never offered to America. The plants are grown with the least 
possible care, like other grains or like corn, and will produce a great weight 
of seed per acre, but in some localities it is subject to the attack of aphides, which 
no doubt has been the cause of its general disappearance during the past three 
centuries. By sowing the seeds early around the edges of fields and gardens, 
or in fields like corn or wheat, a good supply may be raised anywhere in almost 
any climate. The seed is prepared directly for food simply by pounding a few 
minutes in a sack to remove the outer husk, then it is rinsed and cooked like other 
breakfast foods, and is also ground and used for bread and cakes. Everybody 
likes it. Seed of the Burbank selection, per packet of 500 seeds, 25c; five, $1. 
A New Flax-The "Burbank" 
The United States of America produces an average of thirty-three million 
dollars worth of flax seed annually. Its uses are too well known and too numerous 
to mention. Some ten years ago a company of French artists urgently requested 
me to produce a flax which would make a natural 
limpid white oil, as the clear colors of their pictures 
were blurred and deadened by the oils which they 
were obliged to use. From a small sample of seeds 
sample flax seeds f rom some light brown East Indian flax which they 
sibe 0 r"a n n C1 fiaxf second! AmeH- had obtained, and which reverted to the original dark 
blaiW fouVf Burbank for several ^ars, I have now to offer the most remark- 
Russian pskof; sixth, Russian able flax ever produced. The seeds of the "Burbank" 
Imperial; last, East Indian _r „ / ,„„7., ,-/,,, ,/>7„ „,• „ e n r 
n a x. aie of nearly double the size of any other, are of a 
beautiful limpid while, and yield twelve per cent more 
oil per pound of seed. The oil is more readily extracted and with less waste. 
The plants are as hardy and fully as productive as the ordinary flax. The "Bur- 
bank" Flax is now offered for the first time and will be welcomed not only 
by artists, but by painters in general, manufacturers of oil cloths and linoleums, 
by druggists, and for home use by everybody. 
Per packet of 100 seeds, $1; 1,000 seeds, $5. 
HI i k I i 
