NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
so by years of selection and breeding, the basis 
of all this work, he changed the thickness 
and the substance of the bur at will, finally 
demonstrating that, if necessary, the outer 
portion of the bur might be wholly done 
away with, leaving a smooth surface. To breed 
it too thin, however, would be undesirable, the 
bur being the nut’s protection against birds. 
The life character of the chestnut was also 
changed in marked degree. He set about 
producing a chestnut that would bear nuts 
early in life. Ordinarily it would be all the 
way from ten to twenty-five years before a 
chestnut tree raised from seed would begin to 
bear. Mr. Burbank decided that was alto- 
gether too slow for modern days, so he has 
made the chestnut bear nuts at the age of a 
year and a half; indeed, nuts have come upon 
trees not over seven months old. 
In this way the commercial possibilities are 
suggested— where Nature does not move fast 
enough, she must be helped to more rapid 
progress. 
From the standpoint of the adornment of 
the world, including with this that splendid 
sentiment which is becoming more and more 
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