LUTHER BURBANK 



different. There his main experiment orchards 

 were established, and opportunity was afforded 

 for the carrying out of the idea of "quantity pro- 

 duction" more effectively than was possible in 

 the restricted area of the Santa Eosa garden. 



From that day to this, Mr. Burbank has con- 

 ducted his experiments on these two plots of land, 

 aggregating about twenty-two acres. Within this 

 relatively small area more than a hundred thou- 

 sand distinct experiments have been carried out, 

 involving five or six thousand species of plants, 

 and numberless varieties, the original seeds or 

 stocks or roots of which have been sent to Mr. 

 Burbank from all parts of the world. 



Probably there is no other similar area of the 

 earth's surface that has seen a corresponding 

 variety of vegetable products in the same time; 

 certainly there is no other that in our day has 

 produced such a galaxy of new and wonderful 

 plant products as have grown in the experiment 

 gardens at Santa Eosa and Sebastopol. 



NEW APPLICATION OF OLD METHODS 



The fundamental principles of plant develop- 

 ment through which Mr. Burbank thought to de- 

 velop new and improved varieties were not in 

 themselves novel or revolutionary. They con- 

 sisted essentially in the careful selection among 

 a mass of plants of any individual that showed ex- 

 ceptional qualities of a desirable type ; the saving 

 of seed of this exceptional individual, and the 



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