268 LUTHER BURBANK 



in any given flower or fruit or vegetable com- 

 bined in just the desired proportion in any single 

 •ffdiing selected at random, stands about the 

 •ame chance of ha%-ing his expectations grati- 

 fied that you luve of spelling out the word 

 "evolution** correctly with blocks drawn at 

 randomf 



But it is obvious that >*our chance of successful 

 drawing of the blocks would increase in propor- 

 tion as the number of attempts you are permitted 

 to make increases. 



So would the plant experimenter's chat 

 finding several desired qualities of his fnnt or 

 flower combined in just the right proportion 

 increase somewhat in proportion to the number 

 of seedlings among which he can select. 



Yet I suppose the mathematician would assure 

 us that the number of attempts you must make 

 with the blocks before you could hope, according 

 to the theory of chances, to bring out aU the 

 letters in just the right sequence would be so 

 large as to tax 3rour patience beyond endurance 

 and I can testify that the same thing holds tnie 

 with regard to the experiment of the plant de- 

 veloper. Though he had thousands of seedlings 

 among which to choose he is not likely to find 

 any one in a given fratenuty that fully meets 

 his ideal. 



