NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
Mr. Burbank began a series of tests looking 
to that end by constantly selecting seedling 
trees whose nuts bore toward the point aimed 
at. They responded heartily to the demands 
made upon them, so readily, indeed, that one 
day the nuts were found so thin of shell the 
birds could pick through them. This required 
an absolutely opposite breeding, so the trees 
were bred backward again along the path they 
had come until just the required thickness of 
shell was reached. So it was also with 
almonds, the shell being bred to suit, while 
similar results may be reached with other nuts. 
At the same time, general excellence and 
the question of productivity were under con- 
sideration constantly, with the result that a - 
finer, larger and more prolific nut was pro- 
duced. In line with what Mr. Burbank has 
done with grafting a physically insignificant 
tree upon a stronger one, a California nut- 
grower grafted Mr. Burbank’s new soft-shelled 
English walnut upon a native black walnut 
of rapid growth. The average annual produc- 
tion of nuts per tree in the region had been 
from seventy to one hundred pounds. The 
black walnut tree, when grafted with this new 
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