LUTHER BURBANK 
We may take it as a rule, almost, that a habit, 
once fixed, hardens: that a trait, once established, 
grows stronger and stronger. 
The easiest way, therefore, is to work with 
heredity, and not against it—to spend a month 
searching out a desirable trait or habit, rather 
than to spend a year or a decade trying to 
overcome an undesirable one. 
And, now, to a practical experiment. 
From almost any seed house we may procure 
the seeds of two African wild flowers. One is the 
African orange daisy, the other a white daisy of 
the same family. 
The orange daisy is a sun-loving flower, as its 
beautiful, rich tint clearly testifies. 
The white daisy, by its whiteness, shows equally 
unmistakable evidence of an ancestry which has 
preferred the shade. 
“Bright colored flowers,” said Mr. Burbank, 
“are almost invariably those which have grown 
in the sun. White flowers are either those which 
bloom at night, or which, if blooming in the day 
time, have stayed in the shade.” 
“Because the sun reacts with the soil to produce 
bright colors, while the shade does not?” was 
asked. 
“No,” replied Mr. Burbank. “I prefer to believe 
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