The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-12

A California woman, who was call
ed upon to support herself, chose
flower raising as a-meaHs- of Hpeli-
hood. and she has made great sue
cess of her petunia farm. This little
flower was well known to our grand
mothers and comes from plain fam
lily. being connected with the tobacco
plant. Yet this woman has succeed
ed In bringing the blossoms up to a
perfection which has created a de-
Haand fer tAeaa.- Thousands upon
thousands OF blooms. comprising
every variety and color known, ftii
her garden. With a tiny cameFs hair
brush, the pollen of certain flowers
Is transferred to others, and by this
means choice strains are obtained.
Choice hybridized petunta seeds are
worth more than a hundred dollars
an ounce at wholesale. The work or
gathering and preparing them is
tedious one, The seeds have to be
selected with the greatest care. and
carefully sifted through a series OF
fine garden sleeves.
Luther Burbank has fully demon
strated the perfection TO which a
flower can be brought II only suffi-
cient effort is spent upon It. No one
of his experiments shows this more
clearly than his work with the daisy.
This little flower, which is the har-
binger of spring In many States, was
not very well loved when Luther Bur
bank was boy. But he cared for
1t and determined that some time ne
would make IL flower which would
demand admiration. When he grew
to manhood he did not forget this de-
termination. When he started his
nv 10 rat sought out suit
able flowers with which to cross his
little daisy. First. he found Jap
anese blossom of an unusual lustrous
Wilderness After securing specimens
OF this plant, he found another one
In England flower less gracefui
than the American daisy. but larger.
This completed his stock OF material
and he set to work.
He first crossed the English daisy
with the American flower by trans
ferring some OF the pollen from the
former to the latter. The seeds which
resulted were carefully watched,
saved and then planted. When this
plant was In bloom the pollen Of the
Japanese daisy was transferred to the
| one which was already a combination
| of the American and English flow
ers This finished Mr.. Burhank's Ia
bors so far as crossing the plants
was concerned. but still left consid-
| cradle to be accomplished. AS re-
| suit OF his work. he planted many
seeds and made his final selections
by deciding between about 100000
blooms. His present daisy is snow
white. with long. graceful STEM
petals of rare shape and glowing
yellow center. The creating of this
variety took eight years
A result of flower cultivation
and the demand made by the public
for perfect blooms. new beauty doc
| tor has been created. This Is the
flower doctor. Like his professional
relative. the doctor of medicine, he
requires a case of Instruments. in
Guiding pair of disseeting scissors
fcrceps of all shapes. cutting pliers
and host Of brushes. He also re-
quires a spray and bottles containing
gums and numberless perfumes
Flowers that have petals disarranged
by wind or careless handling musi
have them set Alright. and those hav-
ing ul-shaped ones must have them
removed. Often an order demands
that the flowers be buds which will
not open in the heated room In which
they are to be placed. and this means
that they must all be wired tnytsibly
Flowers Hike chrysanthemums often
require the removal OF wtthered pet
ais, and sometimes the petals have ia
be curled. In the growing of white
! flowers any coiored part has to be re-
moved. Any plants supposed to bs
scented. but which for some reason
| or other are received scentIess by the
florist are soon made to smell ~
Bweetly as II freshly picked from out.
of-doors. Potted axaleaas having u