LUTHER BURBANK 
comparative test might be made. It remained for 
Luther Burbank, with his theory of starving a 
living thing to make it hasten its reproduction, to 
cut from two to seven years out of the long wait 
for the fruit which is to tell the story of the 
heredities which were confined within the seed. 
It is possible, at this point, to give but the 
barest glimpse of the results which Mr. Burbank’s 
improvements in grafting have made possible. 
Under the proper heading the details of method 
will be fully explained, together with a summary 
of the results of hundreds of thousands of grafts, 
showing that, while the average time of fruiting 
has been brought down to less than two seasons, 
in some exceptional cases Mr. Burbank has 
secured fruit for testing the same season that the 
graft was made. — 
Here, too, it is not possible to convey more 
than a general idea of his plans which, in every 
operation, are aimed toward the end of producing 
the quickest possible test. Whether it be the 
quince seedlings bearing fruit in six months; or 
three-foot chestnut trees loaded down with nuts; 
or twelve year old walnut trees, the size of their 
seventy year old cousins—all through this work 
the plan and the method is to save time for the 
individual plant as well as to provide short-cuts 
for the process of evolution. | 
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