LUTHER BURBANK 



posed analogies, to be sure, — the fact that the pear 

 over-rides adversity, as it were, bearing abund- 

 antly in bad soils and when totally neglected; the 

 fact that it grows by roadsides and in dooryards 

 showing a domestic habit and as it were a friendly 

 spirit toward man; and finally, the fact that it 

 responds to attention and proves as receptive and 

 responsive to good treatment as it is resistant to 

 bad. 



But I am by no means sure that as to most of 

 these traits, and for that matter in regard to any 

 others that might be mentioned, the apple tree is 

 not to be given a place quite on a par with that 

 which the pear can claim. There is no occasion 

 to dispute about the matter, however, for at best 

 such comparisons have no great significance. 



Let it suffice that the pear and the apple, close 

 cousins as they are, may very well be considered 

 the two orchard trees that are friendliest to man, 

 in the broad use of the word. 



They have been his associates probably almost 

 from the earliest times when he learned that 

 plants would respond to cultivation. 



They have gone with him on his chief migra- 

 tions throughout the temperate zone and even well 

 into sub-arctic regions. 



They have proved themselves adaptable to all 

 soils and nearly all climates; and they jointly pro- 



[106] 



