LU'lHER BURBANK 



round themselves, just as surely as they change 

 ambitions, mold religions, create dress styles, 

 just so surely do they influence and change the 

 characteristics of the plants in whose environment 



they live. 



***** 



"When I say that man is the biggest element 

 in the environment of plants," said Mr. Burbank, 

 "I do not mean those few men who have devoted 

 their lives to the improvement of plants. I do not 

 mean the botanist, the horticulturist, the florist, 

 the nurseryman, the agricultural experimentalist. 

 I mean man in the mass — man busy with his dry 

 goods store, or his steel company, occupied with 

 his law, or his medicine, tired out from his daily 

 blacksmithing, or his carpentering. I mean just 

 man, the neighbor of plants, whether he be their 

 friend or their enemy — whoever and whatever he 



is." 



***** 



It was the savage Indian who gave us, here in 

 America, the most important crop we have. 



It was the Indian who found a wild grass 

 covering the plains and developed it into corn. 



Or, to turn it the other way around, it was the 

 desire of the Indian for a food plant like this that 

 led the teosinte grass, by gradual adaptation, to 

 produce Indian corn or maize. 



[126] 



