LUTHER BURBANK 



principle constituted my first very important step 

 toward the development of new forms of plant 

 life. 



I discovered, in connection with the raspberry 

 hybrids, that in the second and a few succeeding 

 generations different combinations were brought 

 out in the most wonderful variety; and that from 

 these certain individuals could be selected hav- 

 ing almost any qualities of either parent com- 

 bined in almost all possible proportions, and often 

 greatly intensified. 



This was, as we now know, substantially the 

 discovery that Mendel had made almost twenty 

 years before. But no one heard of his discovery 

 till long afterward (about 1900), and at about the 

 time when I was independently learning the same 

 lesson Mendel himself died, quite unknown to 

 fame, without having been able to bring his dis- 

 covery to the attention of the scientific world. 



Meantime, without formulating the principle 

 in precise terms as Mendel had done, and without 

 following up results with numerical exactness, I 

 came to full recognition of the principle of blend- 

 ing of characters in the first filial generation and 

 their reassortment and segregation in the second 

 and succeeding generations. 



All my experimental work was carried for- 

 ward with a clear recognition of that principle. 



[46] 



