Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-03-15
THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS
BY Frederic ]. HaSkin

A California woman who was called up
on to support herself chose hower-rais-
ing as a means of livelihood and she
has made a great success with her pc
tuna farm. This little flower was well
known 10 our grandmothers and comes
from plain family, being connected
with the tobacco plant. Yet this wo-
man has succeeded in bringing the bios
SONS up to a perfection which has Gre
ated a demand for them. Thousands
upon thousands of blooms. comprising
every variety and color known, fill her
garden With tiny cameTs hair brush
the pollen of certain flowers is trans
ferred to others, and by this means choice
strains are obtained. Choice hybridized
petunia seeds are worth more than 500
an ounce at wholesale The work of
gathering and preparing them is te-
dious one. The seeds have to be Sc
lected with the greatest care, and care
fully sifted through a series of fine gar
den sleeves.
Luther Burbank has fully demonstra-
ted the perfection to which a flower can
be brought il only sufficient effort Is
spent upon it. No one of his experi-
ments 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 well loved when
Luther Burbank was a boy. But he
cared for II and determined that some
time he would make il a flower which
would demand admiration. When he
grew to manhood he did not forget this
determination. When he started his ex-
pertinent he first sought out suitable
mowers with which TO cross his little
daisy. First he found a Japanese bios
som OF an unusual lustrous whiteness
After securing specimens of this miami
he found another one in England flow
er 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 transferring
some of the pollen from the former 10
the latter. The seeds which resulted
were carefully watched, saved and then
planted. When this plant was I'm
bloom the pollen of the japanese daisy
was transferred to the one which was
already a combination of the American
and English flowers. This finished Mr.
Burbank's labors so far as crossing the
plants was concerned. but still left con-
siderable to be accomplished. AS a re-
suit Of his work he planted many seeds
and made his final selections by decid-
ing between about 10000 blooms. His
present daisy is snow white with a long
graceful stem, petals of rare shape and
a glowing 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. new beauty doctor has
been created. This is the flower doc
tor. Like his professional relative, the
doctor OF medicine, he requires a case
OF instruments including a pair of dis
secting scissors. forceps of all shapes.
cutting pliers and a host of brushes He
also requires a spray and bottles con-
tanning gums and numberless perfumes.
Flowers that have petals disarranged by
wind or careless handling must have
them set Alright, and those having Ill
shaped ones must have them removed.
Often an order demands that the flowers
be buds which will not open in the heat
ed room I'm which they are to be placed,
and this means that they must all be
wired invisibly. Flowers like chrysan-
themums often require the removal OF