LUTHER BURBANK 



We shall have occasion to inquire just how some 

 of these extraordinary anomalies in plant life 

 were produced in the course of our examination 

 of the special theories of plant development that 

 have guided Mr. Burbank in his elaborate and 

 fruitful experiments; and fuller details will be 

 given in the chapters making up Part II of the 

 present volume. 



BURBANK METHODS AND THE HUMAN PLANT 



A man of Mr. Burbank 's philosophical cast of 

 mind could not fail to give a vast deal of thought, 

 first and last, to the question of a possible appli- 

 cation of knowledge gained in the experiment gar- 

 den to better development of the human race. In 

 point of fact, Mr. Burbank has not only thought 

 but has written and talked on the subject very 

 extensively. He has very pronounced ideas about 

 the development of the human plant that are the 

 outgrowth of his experimental studies with plant 

 life. 



Nowadays we all understand that the same gen- 

 eral principles apply to all types of living crea- 

 tures. With the proper allowance for details of 

 variation, the laws of heredity studied in the vege- 

 table garden can be applied with much assurance 

 to the breeding of animals or the betterment of 

 the human race itself. So large a subject cries 

 out for extended treatment, but it is obvious that 

 in the space available here I can do no more than 

 make brief reference to the possible application of 



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