28 LUTHER BURBANK 



By grasping the ways of nature man 

 can plan the end from the beginning. 

 He may and does create species by using 

 nature's methods. Burbank is therefore 

 a ' ^creator' ' ; so is any other man who 

 appHes scientific research to the molding 

 of life. 



Burbank's experimental gardens at 

 Santa Rosa and on the near-by farm at 

 Sebastopol may be viewed by the biolo- 

 gist as a great laboratory constantly 

 yielding valuable data. Though his im- 

 mediate purpose is to produce new and 

 improved plants for the benefit of 

 humanity, it is evident that in so doing 

 he works on the borderland of what 

 Darwin called **the problem of problems, 

 the origin of species. 



Burbank's ways, then, are nature's 

 ways, in which success comes to the man 

 who follows them most closely. The 

 factors which have made him **dean of 



