to early fruiting, or of greatly shortening the period from 

 seed to maturity in shade and lumber trees. The rapid- 

 growing walnut^ and pineapple quince^ and chestnut seed- 

 lings bearing at six months from the seed, stand forth as 

 strong encouragement to those who vrould take up this line. 



Then there is the broad subject of adapting plants to 

 special localities. The hop crop of California, the cabbage 

 crop near Racine^ Wisconsin, the celery crop near Kala- 

 mazoo, the cantaloupe crop at Rocky Ford and Imperial 

 Valley, and the seed farms of California — all of these bear 

 eloquent testimony to the profit of a specialty properly 

 introduced. 



Yet we haye not touched on the most interesting field in 

 plant improyement — the production, through crossing, 

 hybridizing and selection, of wholly new plants to meet 

 entirely new demands. 



All of these things are as immediate in possibilities and 

 consequences as transcontinental railroads were fifty years 

 ago. All can be made to come about with such apparent 

 ease that future generations will take them as a matter of 

 course. 



The cost and the quality of eyerything that we eat and 

 wear depends on this work of plant improyement. 



— Luther Burbank. 

 (Vol. I, p. 260-277) 



Among the outstanding methods of plant improve- 

 ment are pollination, grafting, and budding. The 

 firststeps in practical work explained in this booklet 

 are the methods Luther Burbank has successfully 

 employed in thousands of separate experiments. 



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