LUTHER BURBANK 



dreds and thousands, extracts the delights from 

 every new experience, and now and then saves 

 out a form that he thinks to be worth introducing 

 to the public. 



"Every part of the work is worth the while of 

 itself; at every stage the satisfaction of it is reason 

 enough for making and continuing the effort 

 Every form is interesting, whether it is new or the 

 reproduction of an old form. He shows you the 

 odd and intermediate and reversionary forms as 

 well as those that promise to be of general use. 



"All this leads me to say that the value of Mr. 

 Burbank's work lies above all merely economic 

 considerations. He is a master worker in making 

 plants to vary. Plants are plastic material in 

 his hands. He is demonstrating what can be done. 

 He is setting new ideals and novel problems. 



"Heretofore, gardeners and other horticul- 

 turists have grown plants because they are useful 

 or beautiful : Mr. Burbank grows them because he 

 can make them take on new forms. This is a 

 new kind of pleasure to be got from gardening, a 

 new and captivating purpose in plant growing. 

 It is a new reason for associating with plants. 

 Usually I think of him as a plant-lover rather than 

 plant-breeder. It is little consequence to me 

 whether he produces good commercial varieties 

 or not. He has a sphere of his own, and one that 



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