MARVELOUS POSSIBILITIES 273 



be harv^ested by machinery so that the cost of 

 handling is cut to the minimum. 



We took the peas which we had selected for 

 form, size, color, taste, content, and productive- 

 ness, and out of thousands obtained perhaps a 

 few hundred peas which were planted separately. 

 These, then, were harvested by separately count- 

 ing the pods and counting the peas, until finally 

 there was combined in this selection not only the 

 best of the lot, but those which ripened all at the 

 same time — practically on the same day. To- 

 day the Burbank Empson peas form one of the 

 chief industries of a large community. 



This contract was made to be fulfilled in six 

 years, but as two crops of peas can be ripened 

 each season the desired production was ready and 

 completed in three years. 



There are countless other requirements which 

 can be equally well met — little economies which 

 can be taught to the plants — little, as applied 

 to any specific plants, but tremendous in the 

 aggregate. 



The list could be extended almost endlessly; 

 the skin of a plum was thickened so as to enable 

 it to be shipped from Cecil Rhodes's farm in 

 South Africa, by way of the Isthmus of Suez to 

 England, then to TsTew York, with some delays, 

 then to California, arriving in good condition. 



