The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-05-24
Home and Farm.)

ONE d1lo ~
Some discussion having arisen as 10
the value Of the work done recently
nv Mr.. Luther Burbank, a correspond
ent of the Boston Transcript OF a re-
cent date gives in detail he story OF
this visit Of Mr.. Gleason, and this ar
ticle for the benefit Of Home ana
Farm readers is condensed from a
f~our-column report made by Mr.. Giea-
son to the Boston Transcript
Mr.. Burbank accompanied his visit
or to the garden from which visitors
were ordinarily excluded and he act
ed as their guide, philosopher and
friend. OF the garden Mr.. Gleason
writes:
Wonders in Rapid Succession.
Just inside the gate there was a
clump of majestic cannas, larger and
more brilliant than any we had ever
seen-a variety which Mr.. Burbank
told US had received a gold medal at
the St. Louis Exposition.
Then came a e Of giant amaryl-
lis with flowers nine inches in diam
eter-as compared with two inches IN
the ordinary amaryllis-and Of the
most striking and varied c~oloration.
across the path was a bed Of Mex
lean evening p~rinroses which, under
Mr.. B~urbank's magic hand, were pro-
ducing splendid white flowers four
and five inches in diameter.
Nearby was a large mass Of Grim
son eschscholtzia-the familiar ali
fornia poppy, which had been per-
suaded to change its yellow
hue into a lovely crimson.
Not far away was another bed OF
pure white California peoples, and
still another in which all the flowers
were Of the most exquisite old gold
color.
"Of Shirley peoples there was an
indescribable wealth Of beauty ana
bloom. One bed was devoted exclu-
siVeIy to blue poppies-when was a
blue poppy ever known before ?-and
it was intensely interesting to see here
the experiment actually in progress Of
making a new flower by carefully
wedding out all imperfect specimens
and saving the seed Of only those
which show a tendency toward the
desired standard, this seed to be plant
ed again next year, when further Sc
lection will be made, and so on. year
after year, until the perfect blu
flower is secured.
"Then there came a bed Of fragrant
verbenas, also some elegant double
'bachelor-buttons,' which likewise had
a unique fragrance. This quality Of
fragrance, our host informed US, is
the most difficult to impart to a
flower, but he has succeeded in a
number of instances, one of the most
noteWthy being that of the fragrant
Gala lily. The Shasta daisy-that
marvellous result of combining three
different daisies from three different
continents-came up for some COM
ment, and Mr.. Burbank showed US his
latest Improvement on the Shasta
daisy itself-a superb double flower,
very much like a chrysanthemum, but
with the advantage over tina flower
OF extending it's bloom throughou the
year. In a shady corner Of the gar
den, We found a bed of land-cross.'
as Mr.. Burbanks calls ia plant with
all the virtues of the
watercress, but growing in dry soil
instead Of running water"
The next day MIR. Burbank accom-
panied his visitors Oh a tour of inspec-
ton over five extensive farms where
his experiments in plant culture are
carried on At ~Sebastopci they spent
the whole morning.
Here are located the proving
grounds where the most careful and
exhaustive tests are made to deter
mln the final quality Of the count