LUTHER BURBANK 



as that hybrids are relatively uniform in the first 

 generation, and highly diversified in the second 

 and a few succeeding generations. But it must be 

 understood that this was the essential discovery 

 that made possible a large part of my successes in 

 producing new varieties by hybridization. And it 

 must further be recalled that the facts in question 

 were ardently contested by large numbers of the 

 leading botanists and the most authoritative stu- 

 dents of hereditary theory. 



It was the demonstration made a thousand 

 times over at the experiment gardens at Santa 

 Rosa and Sebastopol that first showed in a com- 

 prehending and convincing way that such is the 

 operation of the principles of heredity in deter- 

 mining the characteristics of hybrid generations. 



And, as has elsewhere been suggested there is 

 no doubt that it was these demonstrations that 

 prepared some of Mr. Burbank's most eminent 

 critics, including Professor de Vries, to accept the 

 Mendelian statement of this proposition when it 

 came finally to their attention. 



It may be added that the subsequent history of 

 such aspects of the problem as came to be associ- 

 ated with the name of Mendel has shown curious 

 analogy with the history of the Weissmannian doc- 

 trines to which reference has been made in 

 another connection. 



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