LUTHER BURBANK 



It should be explained that the pea is normally 

 self-fertilized, so that there is the closest inbreed- 

 ing, and it is therefore relatively easy to fix a type. 

 Moreover the pea is a very pliable plant, produc- 

 ing new varieties with little care and labor as 

 compared with many other plants. Although I 

 have devoted much less time to it than to many 

 other plants, I have developed numerous varieties 

 that are specially modified for color, for produc- 

 tiveness, for size, for quality, or for resistance to 

 mildew and other affections. And other experi- 

 ments are under way that will probably lead to 

 still further developments. 



Mendel's Famous Experiments 



Although much may thus be accomplished with 

 the pea by mere selection, it should be remem- 

 bered that this plant offers exceptional opportuni- 

 ties also for development by hybridization. In 

 particular it should be recalled that the extraor- 

 dinary experiments through which the Austrian 

 monk, Mendel, made the discoveries that have cre- 

 ated such commotion in the biological world, were 

 made with the common garden pea. 



Reference to these experiments has been made 

 more than once, but it will be worth while to 

 examine them a little more in detail in the present 

 connection. 



The discovery that Mendel first made, to which 



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