198 LUTHER BURBANK 



Or, if there is a variety which will not with- 

 stand the rigor of our winters, perhaps it can be 

 combined with a poorer variety which has been 

 educated to them. 



Or, on the other hand, if there is a plant which 

 withers in the heat of our summers, perhaps some 

 combination can be effected with an already ex- 

 isting brother or cousin, which, throughout the 

 generations, has conquered the obstacle of heat. 



And so on throughout the whole world-wide 

 range of environment. 



We shall find plants which have grown accus- 

 tomed to the wet, and plants which are hardened 

 to the dry; plants which thrive in heat and plants 

 which thrive in cold ; plants which hke sandy soil, 

 and plants which can do well even in clay; plants 

 which have become used to the glare of the sun, 

 and those which live retiring lives in the deepest 

 recesses of the shade; plants which bear flowers 

 large and small, early and late, of short seasons 

 and of long, fragrant and unscented, simple and 

 complex. We shall find fruit flavors which are 

 sour, sweet, acid, bitter; fruit skins which are 

 smooth, fuzzy; fruits themselves that are large, 

 small, even irregular, coarse, delicate; we shall 

 find those which will stand shipment across a 

 continent and those which spoil as soon as they 

 are picked. 



