ON VARIATION 



settled down to the steady task of reproducing 

 their kind exactly as it is, depending only on 

 individual environment for individuality, and 

 ensuring reproduction by self pollenation. 



We should see plants in all stages of their 

 attempts to keep their kind on the upward trend; 

 we should see a range of ingenuity so great that 

 no man, no matter how many of his days have 

 been devoted to the study of plants and their ways, 



can ever become dulled to its wonders. 



***** 



"I bought some extremely expensive seed corn 

 several years back," complained a Santa Rosa 

 farmer. "But, just as I expected, it ran down. 

 The first year's corn was fine, and so was the 

 second; but now it has gone clear back to ordinary 

 corn. This plant improvement doesn't pay." 



"Do you know how corn reproduces itself?" 

 asked Mr. Burbank. 



"Do you realize that if you plant good corn on 

 one side of a fence, and inferior corn on the other, 

 the corn cannot see the fence? 



"Would you expect that a cross between a race 

 horse and some family dobbin would produce a 

 line of racers? 



"Separate your good corn from your poor, 

 and keep it by itself, and you will find that it does 

 not run down, but even gradually improves." 



[89] 



