GENERAL METHODS OF WORK 



not he is going to want any one of them. He 

 does not know how he simply utilizes his 

 intuition; and Mr. Burbank can tell his trees 

 with even greater accuracy. 



One day a loyal friend laughingly suggested 

 a test. He was not in doubt as to Mr. Bur- 

 bank's word, but he would like visual demon- 

 stration. So a series of trees was passed 

 before Mr. Burbank in the usual way. These 

 he instantly separated into good, mediocre 

 and poor. They were all grafted or budded 

 in the usual way and then, after several years, 

 when the time for final test came, the results 

 showed that, in every instance, he had decided 

 the precise nature of the tree and its relative 

 value. 



When the long period of a given test has 

 been concluded, the rejected plants, shrubs 

 or trees are gathered in large bonfires and 

 burned, and the ground stands clear for an- 

 other test. In a single year as many as four- 

 teen of these huge bonfires have been lighted 

 upon the hills of Sebastopol, consuming 

 hundreds of thousands of plants. And out 

 of all that entered the test, probably not 

 more than one or two have been saved, all 



39 



