LUTHER BURBANK 



Yet, on the other hand, I have always been 

 disposed to think that if the potato had not fur- 

 nished a means of migrating, and pointed out the 

 possibilities of plant development, both these ends 

 would have been accomplished by some other 

 member of the garden or orchard family. Still 

 there is a wise old proverb about praising the 

 bridge that has carried you over, and for me, as- 

 suredly, the new potato served as a most important 

 bridge. 



So I naturally look upon the development of 

 the Burbank potato as marking an epoch in my 

 life, and as standing quite apart from other plant 

 discoveries. 



In the sense that it was my first important plant 

 discovery, it must always remain the most impor- 

 tant one. 



A SIMPLE DEVELOPMENT 



Considered as a problem in plant development, 

 the origin of the Burbank potato was a relatively 

 simple matter. There is no story of complex 

 hybridizations and elaborate series of selections 

 to be told in connection with it, such as we have 

 heard in connection with sundry other more recent 

 discoveries. Indeed the word discovery may be 

 applied with peculiar propriety to the origination 

 of the Burbank potato, because it all came about 

 through the chance finding of a seedball growing 



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