NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
them the instant they meet his eye, determin- 
ing instantly whether or not they are fit to 
live. This is selection in one of its most im- ° 
portant forms and carried on as it never has 
been carried on before. 
Instantly he detects faults and as quickly 
determines excellencies. How does he do it? 
How does a child know enough to shun an 
evil man? How does a maiden know whether 
the man setting siege to her heart is to be 
trusted with her life? How does a man of 
sensitive fiber know instantly, without word 
or sign, that his traveling companion is a cut- 
throat by nature, whether or not he wear a 
bandit’s garb? 
Mr. Burbank decides upon his trees by in- 
tuition. He puts a case this way: 
You may meet a hundred men, a thousand, 
or even ten thousand men upon the street of 
a great city, and instantly, without taking into 
account any particular feature, you know that 
they are different. No matter how similar in 
general, the line of difference is absolute. A 
hundred men pass before a merchant seeking 
a man for a position of trust—he can tell at a 
glance and with seldom an error whether or 
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