Luther Burbank and the New Earth 107 



varieties of species, to produce hybrid forms showing a 

 tendency to greater variation or to the accentuation of 

 desired characters, and we have in outline the funda- 

 mental principles of plant-breeding as known to horti- 

 culturists for generations, and as applied by Mr. Bur- 

 bank from the outset of his career. But there were 

 sundry highly essential details of modification that were 

 introduced by the Santa Rosa experimenter, as will ap- 

 pear presently. 



"Moreover, even in the application of the old familiar 

 method, Mr. Burbank was able from the outset to gain 

 exceptional results because of certain inherent quali- 

 ties that peculiarly fitted him for the work. Among 

 these qualities was his exceedingly acute vision, a re- 

 markable color sense, and an almost abnormally de- 

 veloped sense of smell and taste. Artists who have 

 tested his eyes have declared that he can readily de- 

 tect graduations of color that to the ordinary eye show 

 no differentiation ; and it is a matter of hourly demon- 

 stration that he can ferret out an individual flower hav- 

 ing an infinitesimally modified odor in the midst of a bed 

 of thousands of such plants, almost as a hunting dog 

 detects the location of a grouse or partridge under 

 cover. 



"Similarly, his exquisitely refined sense of taste 

 guides him in selecting among thousands of individual 

 plums, or cherries or grapes or apples or berries the 

 one individual specimen that has the most delectable 

 flavor or that shows a minute modification of flavor in 

 the direction in which he is endeavoring to modify the 

 variety. 



"The almost preternatural endowment of special 



