NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
as these Mr. Burbank makes a very careful 
study, supplementing Nature where necessary, 
tenderly outwitting her, if needs be. Some- 
times he cuts away the petals, stamens and 
sepals entirely, so as to form an unattractive 
and inhospitable place for the insects in order 
that they may be kept out entirely. Strategem 
plays no unimportant part in this work. Now 
and again in order to produce a given result, 
fully nine-tenths of the flower buds will be 
cut away in order to force the other one-tenth 
to produce a stronger development. 
But Mr. Burbank does not recommend any 
difficult problems for the amateur; rather, he 
insists on the very simplest ones to begin with. 
He places confidence, the confidence which 
comes from having accomplished something, 
as the initial essential. Failure, he says, leads 
to disappointment, and disappointment to 
discouragement, and discouragement is own 
cousin to despair. So he says: Confidence 
born of success is imperative in amateur plant- 
breeding. 
And to this end he urges taking up a single 
flower to begin with, never a composite one. 
He recommends for crossing, the sweet peas, 
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