GENERAL METHODS OF WORK 



now has come their crucial test: each one 

 must pass in review before the eye of their 

 master. 



In the ordinary course of plant -breeding 

 each one of these hundred thousand plants 

 would need to be grafted, or budded, each one 

 would need individual care. It would require 

 at least five years before the final test would 

 come and a showing be made of the value, or 

 the worthlessness, of each particular tree. 

 While no such test in a single experiment has 

 ever been made, it may be stated in general 

 terms that to graft and carry through to the 

 end of the five-year period a hundred thousand 

 trees would involve an outlay in actual money, 

 and in rental value of the large area of ground 

 necessary at least ten dollars per tree — a total 

 of one million dollars. 



This is saved by Mr. Burbank in one work- 

 ing day. It is saved by that faculty which 

 is best expressed by the term intuition. 

 With assistants to bring and carry away the 

 tiny slender trees, perhaps now grown to a 

 height of one to three feet, he passes upon the 

 hundred thousand in a single day, going over 

 them with lightning-like rapidity, challenging 



37 



