THE MAN AND HIS WORK 



carrying out of the same process of selection 

 among the progeny through successive genera- 

 tions. 



Couple this method of selection and so-called 

 line breeding with the method of cross-pollenizing 

 different varieties or species, to produce hybrid 

 forms showing a tendency to greater variation or 

 to the accentuation of desired characters, and we 

 have in outline the fundamental principles of 

 plant breeding as known to horticulturists for 

 generations, and as applied by Mr. Burbank 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 appear presently. 



Moreover, even in the application of the old 

 familiar method, Mr. Burbank was able from the 

 outset to gain exceptional results because of cer- 

 tain inherent qualities that peculiarly fitted him 

 for the work. Among these qualities was his ex- 

 ceedingly acute vision, a remarkable color sense, 

 and almost abnormally developed senses of smell 

 and taste. Artists who have tested his eyes have 

 declared that he can readily detect gradations of 

 color that to the ordinary eye show no differentia- 

 tion whatever ; and it is a matter of hourly demon- 

 stration that he can ferret out an individual flower 

 having any 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 



[9] 



