74 LUTHER BURBANK 



varieties as nature presents them to him. Sec- 

 ond, he may through selective breeding improve 

 these varieties. Next he selects among these and 

 makes combinations for further variations; and 

 then he is ready for a new series of selections. 

 So from first to last it is only the same story 

 presented in different aspects. 



How important a part does selection play in 

 the life about us! Whether it be in animal or 

 human life, whether it be the selection of ma- 

 terials for a nest, an appropriate club or stone to 

 lay low an enemy, the selection of materials for 

 a dynamo or a pyramid, or of words to convey 

 certain thoughts, aspirations, or emotions; but 

 selection alone from among all the materials sup- 

 plied by nature, no matter how skillfully carried 

 out, can never produce the artist's ideal in pig- 

 ments or marble, the architect's vision of a great 

 structure for the shelter of thousands universal 

 standards of excellence unless their production 

 is accomplished by means other than metrical 

 and statistical ! 



If you really desire to know what plant life 

 will do under certain conditions, why not ask it 

 by careful experiment instead of asking and 

 answering yourself. 



The beginning is selection and the end is 

 selection. 



