LUTHER BURBANK 



Of course all the Burbanks making up the 

 enormous crop of the world have been produced 

 by multiplication of the original single hill of 

 tubers that grew from the one best vine among 

 the twenty-three seedlings of the original potato 

 seedball. 



That the enormously multiplied product of 

 to-day maintains everywhere the characteristics 

 of the original, offers an interesting proof that 

 varieties do not "run out" if grown under suitable 

 environments. 



How EXPLAIN THE BURBANK? 



But how shall we account for the original 

 variety itself? 



I have told the story of its development without 

 offering any explanation of the interesting phe- 

 nomena observed. It remains to account not alone 

 for the Burbank but for the twenty-two other 

 varieties of potato that were its seedball sisters but 

 which were allowed to perish, because they did 

 not, on the whole, possess qualities that justified 

 their preservation. 



Our studies of plant development through 

 hybridization, in connection with numerous 

 species of flowers and trees and orchard and 

 garden fruits, supply clews that make the explana- 

 tion of the origin of the new potatoes relatively 

 simple. 



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