ARTIFICIAL SELECTION 101 



others faintly so; some with upright, others with nodding 

 flowers; some with dark green, woolly leaves in whorls, or with 

 polished light green, lancelike, scattered leaves." 



FIG. 67. An extraordinary apple, one-half being bright red and sour, and the other 

 half greenish yellow and sweet; note in photograph the sharp line of demarkation 

 between the different halves. (From photograph by Burbank.) 



So far no special reference has been made to the more 

 strictly scientific aspects of Burbank's work. Burbank has 

 been primarily intent on the production of new and improved 

 fruits, flowers, vegetables, and trees for the immediate benefit 

 of mankind. But where biological experimentation is being 

 carried on so extensively it is obvious that there must be a 

 large accumulation of data of much scientific value in its rela- 

 tion to the great problems of heredity, variation, and species- 

 forming. Burbank's experimental gardens may be looked on, 

 from the point of view of the biologist and evolutionist, as a 

 great laboratory in which, at present, masses of valuable data 

 are, for lack of time and means, being let go unrecorded. 



Of Burbank's own particular scientific beliefs touching the 

 "grand problems" of heredity we have space to record but 

 two: first, he is a thorough believer in the inheritance of ac- 

 quired characters, thus differing strongly from the Weismann 

 school of evolutionists; second, he believes in the constant 

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