CHAPTER XII 



HARDENING AND ADAPTATION 



XT'ERY early in his business career as a nur- 

 " seryman two facts became apparent to 

 Mr. Burbank: — First, that there were many 

 fruit-growers who paid but httle attention to 

 the selection of stock suited to their climate, 

 having the impression that one fruit tree of 

 a given type was as good as another; and, 

 second, that there was a great work to be 

 done in adapting fruits to climates, in aiding 

 Nature to do what she had been unable to 

 do herself. 



With this in view, he set out upon an 

 exhaustive study of the chief fruit trees, — not 

 merely a study of them from the botanical 

 point of view but, so to use the word, from a 

 physiological point, to ascertain their full phy- 

 sical characteristics. In so doing he was able to 

 find out precisely what was lacking in a given 

 tree in a given climate and to lead that tree 

 into a closer articulation with its surroundings. 



192 



