LUTHER BURBANK 



peculiarities of the soil and the air in which it 

 grew, and to its plant, insect, and animal neighbors 

 — so that it became a thriving, successful race, 

 each generation a little stronger — each year seeing 

 it increase in numbers and spread in territory. 

 In its spread, we may well imagine that the 

 winds, or the animals, carried its seed over 

 otherwise impassable barriers — just as human 

 environment carries one son to New York to 

 become a lawyer, another to Pittsburg to become 

 a steel maker, and another to the gold fields of 

 Nevada. 



Thus reaching out, always into new environ- 

 ments, some branch of this daisy family found 

 itself in the midst of a clump of trees — trees which 

 multiplied and grew till they obscured the sun 

 and left the tiny plants in the obscurity of dense 

 shade. 



As the trees grew (and just as slowly, quite 

 likely), the daisies at their feet accommodated 

 themselves to their new environment — they 

 adapted themselves to the shade and moisture — 

 they had less competition, perhaps, from other 

 small plants and so became less sturdy — they 

 changed their color to the one best suited to 

 attract available messengers of reproduction. 



At this point we interrupted the evolution of 

 the African daisy b}' planting the white and the 



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