IN THE FLOWER GARDEN 



may be brought about in a limited period of time 

 may be effected. 



QUANTITY PRODUCTION 



Of course your task will be facilitated if you 

 raise large numbers of individual plants. Part 

 of Mr. Burbank's phenomenal success is due to 

 the scale on which he operates. He raises indi- 

 viduals of a given variety not merely by thou- 

 sands, but by hundreds of thousands or millions. 

 Nor is a large territory required for these opera- 

 tions, particularly in the case of flowering plants, 

 because great numbers of these can be raised in 

 a plot a few feet square, and only the most satis- 

 factory specimens are preserved in each succeed- 

 ing generation. 



As an instance of the rigorous selection through 

 which Mr. Burbank's flowers are improved, it may 

 be related that on one occasion he destroyed eight 

 cords of bulbs of the South African plant called 

 the watsonia, preserving only a few specimens 

 that were the superlative ones among the hun- 

 dreds of thousands. 



It may be asked why Mr. Burbank destroys 

 these bulbs, when he might readily sell them. 



The answer is that the bulbs represent an inter- 

 mediate stage of development, and as has been 

 pointed out in another connection, if they were 

 allowed to go out they would be advertised 

 presently by some unscrupulous person in a way 

 to mislead the public and do injustice to the 



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