NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



has been of absorbing interest to those scien- 

 tists who have visited Mr. Burbank. DeVries, 

 already referred to, had for years been devel- 

 oping the theory of mutation — elsewhere 

 noted in connection with Mr. Burbank's theo- 

 ries — but when he came to see the wonderful 

 results that Mr. Burbank had achieved on so 

 great a scale he was impelled to write thus: 



"One of the most marvelous features of 

 Burbank's work is the immensity of the num- 

 ber of his different seedlings. This is a power- 

 ful principle, to reach in a short time such 

 very important variations. The rule is: Thou- 

 sands of seedlings for each hybrid. . . . Half 

 a million lily bulbs, a result of one crossing 

 through thrice repeated crossings and selec- 

 tions, were entirely destroyed after fifty 

 of the best bulbs were selected for further 

 culture. And so I might cite all kinds of 

 examples. 



"Every one understands that the chance to 

 find something good is greater if it can be 

 made from several hundred thousand than 

 from only a few hundreds. Those who wish 

 to compete with Burbank must accept this 

 principle, and, if this cannot be done, must 



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