SOME INTERESTING FAILURES 



A Petunia with the Tobacco 

 Habit — And Others 



AWELL-KXOWX critic, after a visit to 

 Santa Rosa, commented on my work in a 

 way that seemed to suggest that what 

 most appealed to him was the great variety of 

 experiments constantly being carried on. 



"Every plant seems to appeal to Luther Bur- 

 bank," he said. "This appeal is quite like the 

 appeal that is made to the botanist but not to 

 the horticulturist; Burbank hkes it because it is 

 a plant and because he would like to modify 

 it for human use. Therefore he grows every- 

 thing he can, no matter where it comes from or 

 of what kind. He cultivates with personal care, 

 multiphes the stock to the limit of his capacities, 

 scrutinizes every variation, hybridizes widely, 

 saves the seeds of the forms that most appeal to 

 him, sows again, hybridizes and selects again, 

 uproots by the hundreds and thousands, extracts 

 the delights from every new experience, and now 



159 



