ON FACT VS. THEORY 
species and different genera, treated elsewhere, 
all of which were thought to be impossible. 
It was such combinations as these which en- 
abled him to perfect the cactus, to produce the 
plumcot, to make the Shasta daisy—in fact, it was 
Luther Burbank’s lack of respect for man-made 
laws, when plants told him a different story, that 
has given the world eighty per cent. of his produc- 
tions—that has led him to ninety per cent. of his 
discoveries in practical method. 
“The only reason,” said Mr. Burbank, “that we 
do not combine between families, and between 
orders, and classes, is that we haven’t the time.” 
So we see that the science of plant life is not 
an exact science, like mathematics, in which two 
and two always equal four. It is not a science in 
which the definite answers to specific problems 
can be found in the back of any book. 
It is a science which involves endless experi- 
menting—endless seeking after better and better 
results. 
Theories are good, because, if we do not permit 
them to mislead us, they may save us time; laws, 
and maps, and charts, and diagrams—systems of 
classification and of nomenclature—all these are 
good, because, if they are faulty, they still reveal 
to us the viewpoint of some one who, with dili- 
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