THE NEW WORK 



This will give a general idea of the vast 

 scope of the work now under way. These 

 thousands of plants are being cared for with 

 the same close watchfulness that has marked 

 Mr. Burbank's breeding tests from the start, 

 and where the details of the work have in- 

 creased beyond the reach of any one man's 

 powers, he has men trained in his own great 

 school of experience, who are competent, 

 under his close supervision, to carry on the 

 part of the work delegated to them. 



Passing more into detail, it may be noted 

 that the approach to a test may be from a 

 variety of avenues. Sometimes it comes along 

 the way of a suggestion, though Mr. Burbank 

 has clearly defined lines of his own, marked 

 out always years in advance; sometimes it 

 may come through the offering of some new 

 plant by one of his collectors, a plant which 

 the collector has found growing in some dis- 

 tant part of the world and which he thinks 

 might be improved'; sometimes it is a volun- 

 teer suggestion from some person Mr. Bur- 

 bank has never heard of. While some most 

 preposterous and laughable things are included 

 in this latter class, now and again one comes 



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