MIRACLES OF SCIENCE 



three species of daisies to produce the new "Shasta" 

 daisy which, judged by its form and color, would itself 

 rank as an individual species. 



Experimenting in another direction with fruits, he 

 has produced plums that have no stones, and cherries 

 for canning purposes that leave the stone on the tree 

 when picked. He has been able to breed the thorns 

 off the raspberry and blackberry bushes and to pro- 

 duce a white .blackberry which was originally as 

 great a novelty as a white blackbird, but which now 

 is no longer rare. 



Yet another achievement has consisted in develop- 

 ing a race of spineless cactus, which now breeds true 

 and which is supplying the deserts with a new forage 

 food. 



All this and much more in kind Mr. Burbank has 

 accomplished through application of the great prin- 

 ciple of selection. "The begining and the end in plant 

 breeding," he says, "is selection. First the selection 

 of varieties as nature presents them to us; second, 

 improvement of these varieties, and combinations to 

 produce still other varieties, and then still further 

 selection." 



Here, then, is the Darwinian principle applied with 

 the aid of human intelligence to accomplish rapidly 

 the changes that Nature could accomplish only in 

 long periods of time. But in making the selections, 

 Mr. Burbank is aided by powers of observation and 

 by intuitions that place him quite in a class by him- 

 self. Mr. Burbank has said that Darwin was one of 

 the best observers that ever lived. The same remark 

 might be applied to Mr. Burbank himself. He is able 



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