LUTHER BURBANK 
the tree accounts in large measure for the interest 
with which almost anyone will take up the culture 
of fruits if given the opportunity. Not that we are 
always thinking of posterity; but one can develop 
an enthusiasm about the production of something 
having an element of permanency that does not 
attach to such transient things as annual or bien- 
nial plants. 
The fruit tree in the old orchard is like an old 
friend when we get back to it. The mere view of 
it brings up reminiscences of our youth, and the 
tree that we planted in childhood may remain as 
a stimulus to us in old age. ; 
There is no friendlier compact than that be- 
tween man and the fruit tree. 
It is an age-long compact withal. Not so 
ancient as the compact of bees and flowers—for 
as compared with the archaic and honorable order 
of insects man is a parvenu—but far older than 
human civilization none the less. 
Indeed, it was probably the fruit tree, giving 
an example of fixity of habitat, that encouraged 
man to give up the life of a nomad and establish 
a fixed abode. 
Not unlikely it was the evidence presented by 
the fruit tree that first suggested to man the possi- 
bility of raising a supply of foods from the soil, 
and thus lured him away from the precarious 
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