266 LUTHER BURBANK 



pense of a few seasons of selection has been paid 

 for, what excuse can there be for producing the 

 other kind? 



It would be impossible here to begin to cata- 

 log the improvements which can be wrought — 

 improvements in size, shape, color, texture, juici- 

 ness, flavor, sweetness, or chemical content of 

 fruits; improvements in the appearance, tender- 

 ness, taste, cooking qualities, and nutritive ele- 

 ments in vegetables ; improvements in length and 

 strength of fiber in cotton, flax, hemp, and in 

 many other textile plants; improvements in the 

 quantity and quality and color of grains; im- 

 provements in amount and value of the chemical 

 content of sugar beets, sorghum, coffee, tea, and 

 all other plants which are raised for their ex- 

 tracts; improvements in the stalks of corn, even, 

 so that, though we could make it bear no more 

 kernels, or no more ears, it would still yield us a 

 better forage crop ; or better quality and greater 

 productiveness of its special products: starch, 

 gluten, oil, sugar, etc.; improvements, all of 

 them, which are capable of turning losses into 

 profits, and of multiplying profits, instead of 

 merely adding to them by single per cents. 



Improving the yield, and consequently the 

 usefulness and profit of existing plants, however, 

 is but the beginning of the work before us. 



