THE SUM OF HIS WORK 



qualities that patrons of the orchardist might be 

 expected to appreciate — ^fruits and flowers calcu- 

 lated to enter into competition on something more 

 than equality with those already on the market. 



Hence, no second call was necessary to chal- 

 lenge the attention of the orchardist, and no second 

 announcement was required for a large proportion 

 of the newly developed hybrids. 



In a word, the practical orchardists called for 

 the new hybrid fruits and flowers at once, and 

 paid the prices asked for them because of the 

 obvious practicality of the new products them- 

 selves. 



Their confidence has been justified by the 

 sequel, for great communities have been built up 

 — as in the case of Vacaville, California, one of the 

 great shipping centers — by these fruits, and whole 

 communities benefited, and the occupations of 

 the entire population changed. 



The Public Interest Explained 



To understand why the general public became 

 so much exercised over the announcement of the 

 new hybrids, it is necessary to recall that the broad 

 general questions of evolution were still exercising 

 the public mind at the time when New Creations 

 appeared. 



Darwin's epoch-making work had indeed ap- 

 peared more than thirty years before, and the doc- 



[167] 



