189 
able  to  read  French  and  German.  For  the  purpose  and  scope 
of  this  lecture  the  financial  and  ethical  improvement  cannot  be 
better  stated  than  in  the  words  of  Luther  Burbank.  Of  course 
any  number  of  specific  instances  can  be  given  where  the  im- 
provement of  plants  has  added  to  our  financial  resources,  but 
the  whole  matter  is  well  summed  up  in  the  following  para- 
graph : 
“The  vast  possibilities  of  plant  breeding  can  hardly  be  esti- 
mated. It  would  not  be  difficult  for  one  man  to  breed  a new 
rye,  wheat,  barley,  oats  or  rice  which  would  produce  one 
grain  more  to  each  head,  or  a corn  which  would  produce  an 
extra  kernel  to  each  ear,  another  potato  to  each  plant,  or  an 
apple,  plum,  orange  or  nut  to  each  tree.  What  would  be  the 
result?  In  five  staples  only  in  the  United  States  alone  the  in- 
exhaustible forces  of  nature  would  produce  annually  without 
effort  and  without  cost : « 
5.200.000  extra  bushels  of  corn  ; 
15.000. 000  extra  bushels  of  wheat; 
20.000. 000  extra  bushels  of  oats ; 
1.500.000  extra  bushels  of  barley; 
21.000. 000  extra  bushels  of  potatoes. 
“But  these  vast  possibilities  are  not  alone  for  one  year,  or 
for  our  own  time  or  race,  but  are  beneficent  legacies  for  every 
man,  woman  or  child,  who  shall  ever  inhabit  the  earth.  And 
who  can  estimate  the  elevating  and  refining  influences  and 
moral  value  of  flowers  with  all  their  graceful  forms  and  be- 
witching shades  and  combinations  of  color  and  exquisitely 
varied  perfumes?  These  silent  influences  are  unconsciously 
felt  even  by  those  who  do  not  appreciate  them  consciously, 
and  thus  with  better  and  still  better  fruits,  nuts,  grains  and 
flowers  will  the  earth  be  transformed  and  man’s  thoughts 
turned  from  the  base  destructive  forces  into  the  nobler  pro- 
ductive ones,  which  will  lift  him  to  higher  planes  of  action 
towards  that  happy  day  when  man  shall  offer  his  brother  man 
not  bullets  and  bayonets,  but  richer  grains,  better  fruits  and 
fairer  flowers. 
“Cultivation  and  care  may  help  plants  to  do  better  work 
temporarily,  but  by  breeding,  plants  may  be  brought  into  ex- 
istence which  will  do  better  work  always,  in  all  places  and 
for  all  time.  Plants  are  to  be  produced  which  will  perform 
their  appointed  work  better,  quicker  and  with  utmost  pro 
cision.” 
In  contrast  to  the  great  importance  of  this  subject  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  systematic  progress  in  the  improvement  of  plants 
has  been  made  only  during  recent  years.  For  this  tardiness 
three  reasons  may  be  here  noted. 
First,  the  sexuality  of  plants  has  not  been  understood  until  re- 
cent years;  the  sexuality  of  animals  has  been  understood  from 
