168 LUTHER BURBANK 



waiting, few of them bearing, even under un- 

 usual methods of grafting, in less than two or 

 three years, and some of them, such as the pear 

 and fig, requiring a much longer period. 



On the other hand, there is one regard in which 

 the orchardist has an advantage. It is not neces- 

 sary for him to fix his new varieties so that they 

 will come true from the seed, inasmuch as his 

 plants will propagate by division. But in deal- 

 ing with plants of annual growth, like the 

 tomato, it is obvious that a new variety can have 

 little value unless it will come true from the seed. 

 (The tomato is really a perennial that is grown 

 as an annual.) 



So the task is not completed when a new vari- 

 ety is produced; additional experiments must be 

 conducted to fix the variety. Even this may be 

 accomplished, however, by careful attention to 

 selection, in the course of a few years, as we have 

 just seen illustrated in the case of the hybrid 



tomato. 



Nineteen- Year-Old Seed 



Among my later experiments with the tomato 

 were some that had exceptional interest because 

 of the material used. 



It chanced that when I left home in the East, 

 many years before, I brought with me seed of 

 several of the standard varieties of plants and of 



