LUTHER BURBANK 



"The struggle of a plant to secure variation in 

 its offspring does not end with the seed," said Mr. 

 Burbank. "It only begins there." 



***** 



In the tropics, a common tree near the seashore 

 is the coconut palm. The coconuts which we 

 find in our market, their hard shells outermost, 

 are but the inside portion of the nuts as they grew 

 on these trees. 



When they were gathered, there was a fibrous 

 substance surrounding the shell an inch or two 

 in thickness — a woody fiber torn off by the 

 shippers to cut down the cost of freight and 

 cartage. Around this excelsior-like covering, as 

 the nut grew on the tree, there was a skin-tight, 

 waterproof cover, with a smooth or even shiny 

 surface. 



At the top of the nut as it would stand if it 

 floated in water, are three well defined eyes. 



Since these coconut palms grow, usually, along 

 the water's edge, the nuts often roll into a brook, 

 or a river, or the ocean, and float away. 



Once detached from the tree and started on 

 such a journej', the eyes disclose their purpose. 

 Two of them begin to throw out a system of roots, 

 not on the outside of the coconut, but growing at 

 first within the woody fiber between the shell and 

 the outside skin. 



[94] 



