LUTHER BURBANK 



My plan was to pick out in successive genera- 

 tions the vine that came nearest to meeting specifi- 

 cations as to number of pods, uniformity of ripen- 

 ing, and small size as well as uniform size of the 

 peas themselves. 



It was necessary, as in some other experiments 

 of a similar kind, to watch the individual plants, 

 selecting the very best individual plants, and har- 

 vesting them by themselves, counting the pods and 

 counting the peas, and making careful record of 

 results. 



Fortunately it is possible with the pea to raise 

 two crops in a season. Thus I was enabled to 

 progress very much more rapidly than otherwise 

 could have hoped to do. We could do two years' 

 work in one. 



So we were able to deal with six generations 

 of peas in three years. And yet by that time the 

 undesirable qualities had been so systematically 

 excluded and desirable ones so persistently sought 

 for that the educated pea vines fulfilled the speci- 

 fications exactly. 



I find in my files a letter bearing date of 

 February 29, 1908, that may be quoted here as 

 summarizing the results of the experiments: 



"By express to-day," I wrote, "I send you all 

 the peas raised from the one best of all my selec- 

 tions. This one is the one which produced the 



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