NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
difficult for an amateur grafter to make 
selection from a lot of seedlings as Mr. Bur- 
bank does, choosing the very best from a 
hundred thousand with unerring eye, in a 
single day’s time, but it will require but 
comparatively little training for any one who 
is deeply interested in the work to make 
intelligent choice between the few young trees 
of beginning experiments as they come, 
selecting those which are in all ways thriftier 
and “likelier” trees. When all is said and 
done, selection in plant-breeding is very 
largely a matter of individual judgment, 
backed up by the largest possible knowledge 
attainable as to the life history and past 
environment of the plant itself. 
Mr. Burbank offers the following sug- 
gestions as to orchard - grafting: 
“Commence in January, if much is to be 
done. February is probably the best month 
on most of the Pacific coast. March is as good 
if the grafting-wood has been well kept. 
April is not too late, and May sometimes and 
for some things, is a good month. One and a 
half to two and a half inches in diameter is 
the best grafting size of branch for old trees. 
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