LUTHER BURBANK 



sand seedlings, there would be no probability of 

 securing more than a single good new variety. 



But, on the other hand, sometimes even a small 

 lot of seedlings may give more than one good va- 

 riety, as was the case with my original twelve 

 seedlings from Japan. 



In any event, the nurseryman can carry out a 

 line of experiment on a moderate scale without 

 considerable monetary outlay. So at worst he 

 will lose very little. 



But where innumerable crosses are made and 

 thousands of seedlings are raised each year only 

 to be destroyed; and where all needed improve- 

 ments are worked for together as in the combina- 

 tion of a great number of species and varieties 

 instead of taking a certain established variety and 

 attempting to make one or two improvements 

 upon it there must necessarily be a much greater 

 proportion of expense. 



But, so far as my own experiments are con- 

 cerned, the pioneer work has now been done. I 

 have elsewhere told how the material has been 

 gathered from all over the world, until the plums 

 and prunes of my orchard carry hereditary strains 

 in their germ-plasm from ancestors imported 

 from five continents. 



And I have pointed out that there are thou- 

 sands of new varieties among my plum trees that 



[258] 



