LUTHER BURBANK 



I recall reading an address by the late 

 Professor Newton, a distinguished American 

 astronomer, on the subject of "dead work," in 

 which he emphasized the fact that the main bulk 

 of the experiments which any scientific worker 

 must make will lead to no definite goal. A large 

 part of the time of every experimenter must be 

 given up to following trails that lead nowhere in 

 particular or that end in blind cul de sacs. 



The work of the plant experimenter is no 

 exception, but there is always an incentive to 

 further effort in the knowledge that a path that 

 seems to lead only into impenetrable mazes may 

 presently bring one out into the light. To make 

 the application to one illustrative case among 

 many, I recall that for twenty-four successive 

 seasons I attempted to hybridize certain species 

 of Solanum before I finally succeeded in etf ecting 

 a cross that gave me a single seed from which 

 sprang the new race of Sunberries. 



But it must not be understood that the main 

 bulk of my experiments are made in any hap- 

 hazard manner. 



On the contrary my most important results 

 have been attained by continuing the experimen- 

 tation along rigidly predetermined lines and by 

 methods of hybridizing and selection that my 

 earlier work had fully established. Having served 



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