94 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 3 : 3 -mar., ,907 



caught violating game laws or ruthlessly butchering wild animals is very com- 

 mendable. In addition to this editorial work, Mr. Shields has taken an 

 active part in the campaign against the Italians who shoot song birds near 

 New York City, and many arrests have for a time stopped the shooting. 



Burbank's Experiments. In a review of Harwood's "New Crea- 

 tions in Plant Life," (an account of the work oi Luther Burbank) the Plant 

 World states that those competent to judge agree as to the value of much of 

 Burbank's work in plant breeding, but in justice to the workers who have 

 preceded and are contemporaneous with Mr. Burbank, we should not permit 

 ourselves to over-estimate these services or to be influenced in our judgments 

 by the fulsome adulation of such writers as Mr. Harwood. Blinded by the 

 glamour of Mr. Burbank's truly remarkable achievements, the public is apt 

 to overlook the labors of such men as Vilmorin, Crozy, Eckford, Bailey, 

 Webber, and a host of others whose results are equally important and far- 

 reaching and, in some instances, indeed, more so. 



Concerning Mr. Burbank's methods of work, it is a distinct disappoint- 

 ment to learn from this book that he keeps no exact records of what he per- 

 forms, but that in his hybridizing experiments he neglects the first and para- 

 mount essential for success, — the taking of precautions to insure genuine cross 

 fertilization and to avoid contamination from foreign sources. The pollen of 

 the same species is almost invariablv prepotent over that of another species, no 

 matter how elosely related. Yet according to his biographer, Burbank takes 

 no pains to insure the purity of a cross. "Mr. Burbank . . . says 

 that it is wholly unnecessary in ordinary plant-breeding to attempt to cover 

 the flower with a screen of tissue paper or gauze." He adds, with uncon- 

 scious irony, "If the pollinating has been thorough, nature may safely be left 

 to do the rest." It is hardly necessary to point out that a flower treated in 

 this way may be visited bv insects bringing pollen from many different sources, 

 and that the parentage of the resulting seedlings must remain absolutely in 

 doubt. It is quite true that if these seedlings show the characters for which 

 Mr. Burbank is working, the results are satisfactory from his standpoint; but 

 what of their scientific value ? What new fact have they added to our 

 knowledge of plant breeding ? How can the experiment be repeated ? The 

 fact that a new fruit has been produced is of general interest; it might never 

 be improved or perpetuated if science did not discover how and why it orig- 

 inated. 



An article in the Century Magazine, bv Professor De Vries, author of 

 famous books on plant breeding, contains essentially the same criticism as 

 those quoted above. 



