CHAPTER XII 
HARDENING AND ADAPTATION 
Weer early in his business career as a nur- 
seryman two facts became apparent to 
Mr. Burbank:—First, that there were many 
fruit-growers who paid but little attention to 
the selection of stock suited to their climate, 
having the impression that one fruit tree of 
a given type was as good as another; and, 
second, that there was a great work to be 
done in adapting fruits to climates, in aiding 
Nature to do what she had been unable to 
do herself. 
With this in view, he set out upon an 
exhaustive study of the chief fruit trees,—not 
merely a study of them from the botanical 
point of view but, so to use the word, from a 
physiological point, to ascertain their full phy- 
sical characteristics. In so doing he was able to 
find out precisely what was lacking in a given 
tree in a given climate and to lead that tree 
into a closer articulation with its surroundings. 
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