ON FACT VS. THEORY 
“You know the secret now,” said Mr. Burbank, 
“but if you think that you can produce these nico- 
tunias as you would hybrid petunias, or crossbred 
primroses, go ahead and try; there is no patent on 
their manufacture; but if the five hundredth cross 
succeeds, or even the five thousandth, under the 
best conditions obtainable, you will surely be very 
successful. I do not fear any immediate competi- 
tion. This one cost me ten thousand tries.” 
Perhaps those who have said that species could 
not be combined with species, or genus with genus 
have tried only once or twice or a dozen times. 
Perhaps Mr. Burbank’s patience and persistence 
account for some of the upset laws. 
PM te! 
“Why not content ourselves to work within 
varieties as the bees work?” asks some one. 
“Because by going out of the varieties and 
combining between species, and going out of the 
species and combining between genera, we mul- 
tiply almost infinitely the combinations of old 
heredities which we may bring into’ play—we 
lessen the work which we have to make environ- 
ment do by spreading before us more combinations 
of heredity—we accomplish in two years what 
otherwise might take two lifetimes.” 
In all, Mr. Burbank has made one hundred 
and seventy-nine combinations between different 
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