El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-12
HELPING NATURE WITH
FLOWERS.
THE SCIENCE OF PLANT BREEDING

A CALIFORNIA woman who was
- called upon TO support herself
= n chose flower raising as a means
of livelihood. and she has made a great
success with her petunia farm. This
little flower was well known to our
grandmothers and comes from a plain
family, being connected with the to-
bacco plant. Yet this woman has sue
ceeded in bringing the blossoms up to
a perfection which has cre&ted a demand
for them. Thousands upon thousands
of blooms, comprising every variety and
color known, fill her garden.
With tiny camel's hair brush the
pollen of certain flowers 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 tedious one. The seeds have
to be selected with the greatest care,
and carefully sifted through a series Of
fine garden sleeves.
Perfection Of Flowers.
Luther Burbank has fully demon
strated the perfection TO which flower
can be brought If only sufficient effort
is spent upon 1t. No one of his eX-
periments shows this more clearly than
his work with, the daisy. This little
flower, which is the harbinger of spring
in many states, was not very we'll loved
when Luther Burbank was a boy. But
he cared for it and determined that
sometime he would make it a flower
which would demand admiration.
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 Japa-
neSe blossom of an unusual lustrOuS
whiteness. After securing specimens OF
this plant he found another one in Eng
land-a flower less graceful than the
American daisy but larger This com
pleted his stock of material and he set
to work.
Crossing Flowers.
He first CROSSED the English daisy
with the American flower by transfer
ring some of the pollen from the for
mer TO the latter. The seeds which re-
suited 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 Amer
lean 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 of his work
he planted many seeds and made his
rinal selections by deciding between
about 100000 blooms. His present daisy
is snow white with a long, graceful
stem, petals OF rare shape and a glow
ing yellow center. The creating of
this variety took eight years.
AS a result OF flower cultivation and
the demand made by the public for per-
feet blooms, a new beauty doctor has
been created. This is the flower doctor.
Like his professional relative, the doc
tor Of medicine, he requires a case OF
instruments including a pair of dissect-
ing scissors, forceps Of all shapes, cut
ting pliers and a host Of brushes
Pertaining Flowers.
He also requires q spray and bottles
containing gums and numberless per-
fumes. Flowers that have petals dis
arranged by wind or careless handling
must have them set Alright. and those
having fl shaped ones must have't 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 invisibly. Flowers
like chrysanthemums often require the
removal of withered petals, and some
times the petals have TO be curled- In
the growing of white flowers any col
ored part has TO be removed. Any
plants supposed TO be scented but
which for some reason or other are re-
ceived scentless by the florist, are soon
made to smell as sweetly as IL freshly
picked from out of doors. Potted
aZaleas, having so many blooms on a
single plant, are inclined TO wither
quickly, and for this reason each flower
is eleverly gummed to its stem, thus
making it last considerably longer.
Perfume and Flowers.
The making of perfume always has
been closely related to the raising OF
flowers. Grasse, France, is one of the
most important centers of this industry.
There every variety of perfume giving
flowers is to be found 1t takes 20 900
pounds of rose petals to make single
ponnd of altar of roses. Valued at $500.
For a pound of nerOli. the basis of eau
de cologne, thousand pounds of the
petals of the bitter orange 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 so times before the mixture
is sufficiently strong. The flowers
most used are violets, jassamine, orange
blossoms. jonQuils, roses, lavender,
tuberoses and heliotrope.
Ambergris Is used as a basis for
nearly all standard perfumery. This
article was first found floating on the