CHAPTER IV 

 WITH BURBANK IN THE ORCHARD 



AjMOST every country dooryard has one or 

 two orchard trees in some odd corner, 

 an apple or pear tree, or cherry or plum. 

 For the most part these trees bear indifferent 

 fruit, and it does not occur to their owners that 

 they could be improved. Yet in point of fact it 

 would be an easy matter to graft scions or buds 

 of good stock on these trees, and produce fruits 

 of the finest varieties, instead of inferior 

 ones. 



You may have a hundred or more different 

 varieties on a single tree if you like. Mr. Bur- 

 bank sometimes has a thousand. 



Moreover, it would be quite feasible to make 

 the old tree the seat of experiments in the devel- 

 opment of new kinds of fruit absolutely new 

 kinds, such as no one ever saw before. That is 

 what Mr. Burbank would do with the tree. He 

 would seek its co-operation at once ; do some pol- 

 lenizing and grafting; and pretty soon the old, 

 "worthless" tree would be the most interesting 

 and important tree in that part of the world. 



The ensuing pages will tell just how he would 

 go about it and how you may imitate his 

 methods. 



[56] 



