Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-19

lMM was called upon to support
IM herself chose flower raising
IM ~ as a means of livelihood,
lWM and she has made a great
laasAsE41 success with her petunia
farm This little flower was
well known to our grandmothers and
comes from a plain family being con-
nected with the tobacco plant. Yet
this woman has succeeded in bringing
the blossoms up to perfection whlch
has created a demand for them. Thou
sands upon thousands of blooms, COM
prising every variety and color known,
fill her garden. With a tiny camel S
hair brush the pollen of certain flow
ers is transferred to others. and by
this means choice strains are obtained.
Choice hybridized petunia seeds are
worth more than hundred dollars
an ounce at wholesale. The work OF
gathering and preparing them is a te-
dious one. The seeds have to be Sc
lected with the greatest care and care
fully sifted through a series of fine
garden sieves.
Luther Burbank has fully demon
strated the perfection to which a
flower can be brought if only sufficient
effort is spent upon 1t. No one of his
experiments shows this more clearly
than his work with the daisy. rms
little flower, which is the harbinger of
spring in many states, was not very
well loved when Luther Burbank was
a boy. But he cared for it and deter
mined that some time he would make
1t a flower which would demand ad-
miration When he grew to manhood
he did not forget this determination.
When he started his experiment he
first sought out suitable flowers with
which to cross his little daisy. First
he found a Japanese blossom of an
unusual iustrous whteness. After Sc
curing specimens of this plant he
found another one in England-a
flower less graceful 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. Then seeds which
resulted were carefully watched, saved
and then planted. When this plant
was in bloom the pollen of the Japan
ese daisy was transferred to the one
which was already a combination or
the American and English flowers.
This finished Mr. Burbank's labors so
far as crossing the plants was con-
cerned. but still left considerable to
be accomplished. AS result or ms
work he planted many seeds and made
his final selections by deciding be-
tween about 100000 blooms. His pres
ent daisy Is snow. white with a long
graceful stem, petals OF rare shape
and a glowing yellow center. The Gre
ating of this variety took eight years
AS result Of flower cultivation and
the demand made by the public Tor
nerfect blooms a new beauty doctor
has been created. This is the flower
doctor Like his professional relative
the doctor of medicine. he requires a
case of Instruments. including PAIR
of dissecting scissors, forceps OF an
shapes, cutting pliers and a host OF
brushes. He also requires a spray anu
bottles containing gums and NUMBER
less perfumes. Flowers that nave
metals disarranged by wind or care
less handling must have them set
Alright. and those having III SNAPPED
ones must have them removed. OlteH
an order demands that the flowers pc
buds which will not open in the neat
ed room in which they are placed, and
this means that they must all De
wired invisiby. Flowers like chrys-
anthemums often require the removal
of withered petals. and sometimes the
metals have to be curled. In the grow
inp of white flowers any colored part
has to be removed. Any plants sup
posed to be scented, but which 10.
reason OF OlHti eNiN
scentless by the florist are soon mace
to smell as sweetly as II treshly
nicked from out OF doors. Potteu
azaIeas. having so many blooms on
single plant, are inclined TO "lther
ouiclxlv' and for this reason eaeh
dower is cleverly gummed to It's stem.
thus making it last considerably
longer. -, .,,,.o,,,
The making of perfume has always
heen closely related to the raising OF
flowers. Grasse, France, Is one or the
most important centers of this indus
trv There every variety of perfume
Giving flowers is to be found. lt takes
% 600 mounds OF rose petals to make
a single pound Of altar of roses valued
at 5000. For pound of neroll' the
hasis of eau de cologne. thousand
hounds of the petals of the bitter or
ange are needed. The perfume is made
by saturating lard with the oil OF the
flower. and in some cases the blossoms
have to be changed as many as eignty
times befare the mixture is suf1iclently
strong. The flowers most used are Vio-
lets. Jasmine, orange blossoms, jon
quils. roses, lavender, tuberoses and
heliotrope.
Ambergris is used as a basis Tor