186 LUTHER BURBANK 



improved quality of foliage, but an enormously 

 enhanced capacity for growth. 



The practical value of such an experiment as 

 this, from the standpoint of the agriculturist, will 

 be obvious. 



That such variations may occur among plants 

 from the same lot of seed gives a clew to the ob- 

 served differences of neighboring forage fields. 



It is clear that the diversities that are usually 

 ascribed to differences of soil may be due in part 

 to different strains of seed. The value of devel- 

 oping a forage grass to its fullest possibilities of 

 productivity is too patent to require comment. 



That one plant could be made to grow, and to 

 maintain throughout life a rate of growth one 

 hundred times in excess of other individuals of 

 the same species, is a fact that should be stimu- 

 lative to any experimenter who thinks of working 

 with the grasses, and that is certainly of signifi- 

 cance to the cultivator of forage plants. 



I have experimented extensively also, and with 

 interesting if less picturesque results, with the 

 millets, the rye grasses, and orchard grass, as well 

 as with numberless more or less conspicuous 

 varieties. 



My work with orchard grass (Dactylis glome- 

 rata), which was only neglected in the past few 

 years, included an interesting experiment grow- 



