LUTHER BURBANK 



This selected seedling he may nurture and use as 

 part of his equipment for further experiment just 

 as you retained the letter "E" as marking the 

 beginning of your success in spelling the word 

 "evolution," 



And as the plant developer continues his 

 experiment with successive hybridizings and 

 successive selections, he will be able in later 

 generations to find individual seedlings that 

 combine successively more and more of the 

 qualities he is seeking. When, finally, he reaches 

 the stage where the parent forms have between 

 them all the desired qualities in superlative 

 degree, he is somewhat in the position that you 

 were in when only two of your lettered blocks 

 remained in the bag. There is at least an even 

 chance that he will find, among his seedlings of 

 the next generation one that will approximate his 

 ideal, even though the number from which he 

 selects is far smaller than the earlier groups. 



Thus by advancing step by step and using 

 the ground gained as a new starting point the 

 experimenter attains his end with comparative 

 celerity, even though there would have been 

 scarcely more chance of attaining that end with 

 a single experiment than you would have had of 

 spelling out the word "evolution" at a single 

 series. 



[104] 



