Vernon y m u n Kellogg 



onmental conditions come about extraordinary 

 variation results, namely, discontinuous, sport or 

 mutational variation. These variations are the 

 effects of past environment also, having remained 

 latent until opportunity for their development 

 occurs. Starvation causes reversions, but rever- 

 sions can also be produced by unusually rich nutri- 

 tion. New variations are developed most often, 

 as far as environmental influences go, by rich soil 

 and generally favorable conditions. So-called new 

 qualities are usually, if not always (the fact may 

 sometimes not be obvious), simply new combina- 

 tions of old qualities, both latent and obvious. To 

 get a new and pleasing odor it may often be sufli- 

 cient simply to lose one bad element in an old 

 odor. So one might go on for some pages with 

 specific conclusions or deductions reached by 

 Burbank on a basis of experience. But it is true 

 that he has at his command the knowledge of no 

 new fundamental scientific principles to give him 

 advantage over us. And yet none of us has done 

 what Burbank has been able to do, although many 



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