ON HURRYING EVOLUTION 



It was the same kind of observation as that 

 which led to the production of a spineless cactus; 

 the same keen eye for cause and effect which 

 showed Luther Burbank a new theory of grafting 

 — which opened the way to a practice which 

 makes possible, comparatively, immediate results. 

 ***** 



Grafting close to the trunk gives the cion a 

 better chance. 



"Give anything a good chance," thought Mr. 

 Burbank, "and it takes its own time to mature. 



"Take away that chance, and responding to 

 the inborn tendency of every living thing to 

 reproduce itself, it will hasten the process without 

 waiting to accumulate strength. Therefore, if we 

 graft awajf out at the tip ends of the tree, while 

 we make it harder for the cions to exist, yet, in 

 consequence, they will bear us quicker fruit. 



"Furthermore, if we graft close to the trunk 

 we can, at best, attach but six, or eight, or a 

 dozen cions. 



"But if we graft out at the tip ends, we can put 

 five hundred cions on a single tree." 

 ***** 



Grafting was nothing new ; but it remained for 

 Luther Burbank to learn the secret of producing, 

 by means of it, five hundred different kinds of 

 fruit on a single tree at the same time, so that a 



[199] 



