CHAPTER III 
THE CREATION OF NEW TREES 
AO the thousands of people who visit 
Mr. Burbank’s home from year to year 
are many who come out of idle curiosity, some 
who are prominent in scientific lines, whom he 
delights to welcome if they are sincere, some 
who come prepared to find fault and to over- 
throw, if possible, what has been built up. 
One day when there came a man who had 
been deeply interested in forestry, conversa- 
tion fell upon the breeding of trees, the pro- 
duction of new and improved varieties of trees 
by means of cross-fertilization and selection. 
The visitor had decided views upon the 
subject, and at once raised the question of the 
feasibility, even of the possibility, of any suc- 
cessful experimentation in tree-breeding, such 
as that Mr. Burbank had carried on in other 
plant life. In the first place, the experiments 
would need to be carried over through a series 
of generations, and, so slow the growth of the 
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