NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
Generally speaking, however, those who have 
carried it on have worked in small quarters, 
perhaps in gardens or conservatories, usually 
with comparatively few varieties. Mr. Bur- 
bank early saw that this was slow work, that 
it would take the years of many lifetimes to 
accomplish what he had laid out before him. 
The sending of telegrams was once confined 
to a single message, one way, in one direction. 
Even this was a wonderful thing, but it was 
slow, and so there was devised a system of 
sending many messages upon the single wire 
in both directions at the same time. 
Some such transformation as this he has 
wrought in plant-bréeding. 
Instead of one or two experiments under 
way at the same time, he may have five hun- 
dred at once, all requiring constant supervi- 
sion, many of them extending over a period 
of perhaps ten years before they come to frui- 
tion. Instead of having a few square feet of 
ground or a few pots under glass, he uses 
acres of ground, if necessary, in a single test. 
In place of contenting himself with a half 
dozen, or even fifty plants, in making a given 
test, he uses if necessary a million, all of them 
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