GENERAL METHODS OF WORK 
not he is going to want any one of them. He 
does not know how—he simply utilizes his 
intuition; and Mr. Burbank can tell his trees 
with even greater accuracy. 
One day a loyal friend laughingly suggested 
a test. He was not in doubt as to Mr. Bur- 
bank’s word, but he would like visual demon- 
stration. So a series of trees was passed 
before Mr. Burbank in the usual way. These 
he instantly separated into good, mediocre 
and poor. They were all grafted or budded 
in the usual way and then, after several years, 
when the time for final test came, the results 
showed that, in every instance, he had decided 
the precise nature of the tree and its relative 
value. 
When the long period of a given test has 
been concluded, the rejected plants, shrubs 
or trees are gathered in large bonfires and 
burned, and the ground stands clear for an- 
other test. In a single year as many as four- 
teen of these huge bonfires have been lighted 
upon the hills of Sebastopol, consuming 
hundreds of thousands of plants. And out 
of all that entered the test, probably not 
more than one or two have been saved,—all 
39 
