LUTHER BURBANK 



rejected. And in particular, any seedling that is 

 attacked by mildew or other fungous growths, 

 whatever its other qualities, should be at once up- 

 rooted. Immunity to disease is a sine qua non. 

 The quality that gives immunity is inherent in 

 the germ-plasm of the individual, and a susceptible 

 seedling will make a susceptible tree. 



Mr. Burbank's trees do not need to be sprayed 

 to protect them against bacterial and fungous dis- 

 eases, because they are raised from immune stock. 



In developing an orchard you will do well to 

 follow the same rule rigidly, even though it leads 

 you to destroy seedlings that otherwise appeared 

 to be the best in an entire lot. 



HUKRYING THE SEEDLINGS BY GRAFTING 



Of course the seedlings that are selected for 

 preservation might be transplanted and left to 

 develop on their own roots. 



But this would be much too slow a process to 

 meet the needs of Mr. Burbank's experiments. 

 He knows that as a rule he must carry the experi- 

 ment through several generations before he has 

 developed the choice new variety of fruit that he 

 has in mind. 



That is to say, he must await the flowering of 

 his seedlings; cross-fertilize them; save the seeds 

 of their fruit, plant them, and raise another crop 

 of seedlings ; which in turn will be submitted to 

 the same process of selection, grafting, and cross- 

 fertilization. The object is to breed into the com- 



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