66 LUTHER BURBANK 



that have been employed at Santa Rosa to per- 

 fect flowers and orchard fruits and vegetables, 

 grains, grasses, etc., may be applied with full 

 confidence to improvement of the cotton plant. 



In my own studies, I have come upon a variety 

 of cotton grown in a far northern climate, that of 

 Korea, for ages, and as it appears to be very 

 much hardier than any cotton heretofore known, 

 have thought it of peculiar interest. The bolls, 

 though produced abundantly, are small and have 

 a short staple, growing on compact, low-bushing 

 shrubs. This matures at Santa Rosa where other 

 cottons seldom reach even the blossoming stage. 



I have sent seed of this to experimenters better 

 located; and this unusually hardy dwarf cotton 

 may prove of value for cross-breeding purposes. 



The function of cotton fiber is, of 

 course, to protect the seed and to 

 facilitate its distribution. But na- 

 ture would scarcely have carried 

 the elaboration of the protective 

 fiber to such a length, had she not 

 been aided by man, who has se- 

 lected, generation after generation, 

 among the cotton plants, the ones 

 that produced the best quality of 

 fiber as gauged by his own needs. 



