HOW MAY I DO IT TOO ; BREEDING 



sizes. Some of these are perhaps fifty by a 

 hundred feet, some four hundred by twenty 

 feet; others, enclosed in frame borders, are from 

 six to ten feet square. Wire screens are pre- 

 pared to be adjusted to these smaller beds in 

 order to keep out the birds. Millions upon 

 millions of seeds are sown in these plots of 

 ground every season, and, from the plants that 

 grow, rigid selection is constantly going on. 



Workmen are always to be seen about the 

 place, quiet, clear-eyed, intelligent men, trained 

 men, whose hearts are in the work. Every 

 morning they take their orders from Mr. Bur- 

 bank for the day, and carry them out quietly 

 but enthusiastically. No man ever had more 

 loyal aids; they are not only attentive to their 

 work, but they are devotedly attached to the 

 quiet man who goes in and out among them 

 all so gently, but who, if occasion demands, can 

 give a command no workman would dare 

 ignore, or deal out a denunciation of a misde- 

 meanor exceeding bitter to the taste. It is 

 rare, though, that he ever gives rein to his 

 words when satire is in the saddle, but when 

 he does, the pace is swift and the rider holds a 

 whip of scorpions. 



231 



