HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD 
into a certain measure of fame. Some of these 
have been working along strictly scientific 
lines, others have been enthusiastic horticul- 
turists or seedsmen, preéminently practical 
and using agencies to reach certain desired 
ends without thought of the rationale of their 
actual instruments and methods, or any esti- 
mate of the forces at work. These latter men 
are artisans in plant-breeding, building in 
many a case beautiful and important works. 
But Mr. Burbank has not only created 
plants and improved them upon a colossal 
scale, but he has, at the same time, studied 
nature with infinite patience and skill, observ- 
ing her manifestations, analyzing her laws, 
and defining and interpreting her functions. 
His life-work has been primarily two-fold in 
its sweep: First, embracing the widest possible 
service to the world; and, second, accomplish- 
ing this service under the most exacting and 
persistent adherence to scientific truth. He is, 
in his department of life, scientist and philoso- 
pher and plant-breeder and_horticulturist 
bound into one. He has not confined his 
study, as other men have, to a narrow field. 
All the great experiments he has carried on 
353 
