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two  if  good  results  are  expected  to  follow.  Lime,  which  is  also 
not  very  abundant  in  many  places,  can  be  used  to  good  advantage 
and  will  greatly  help  to  promote  the  dissolution  of  the  elements 
for  the  use  of  the  plant. 
Experience  alone  can  tell  when  and  how  to  apply  these  foods 
and  some  means  must  be  found  to  place  the  food  below  the  feed- 
ing area  of  the  lawns,  so  that  the  bulk  will  be  taken  up  by  the 
trees  or  plants. 
In  many  places  close  planting  is  causing  many  weaker  trees  to 
go  backwards  and  many  are  almost  beyond  help,  the  larger  trees 
having  taken  the  bulk  of  the  food  from  them. 
Another  important  matter  on  which  I desire  to  say  a few  words 
and  which  I am  pleased  to  say  has  already  found  a good  start  here, 
is  the  improvement  of  fruits  by  selection.  I am  given  to  under- 
stand and  I believe  it  is  true  that  most  of  your  fruits,  except  a 
few  late  introductions,  are  seedlings,  your  alligator  pears,  man- 
goes, papaias  and  others  and  as  such  there  is  an  enormous  varia- 
tion, an  unlimited  mass  of  types.  Among  these  we  find  some  very 
choice  fruits,  some  early,  some  late,  some  heavy  producers  and 
some  barren  trees.  We  find  some  trees  of  dwarf  habits,  some 
giants  of  the  most  vigorous  type,  and  from  all  this  material  it 
would  be  a very  easy  matter  to  select  such  that  would  enable  you 
to  have  good  fruit  all  the  year  round.  Why  should  any  one  sup- 
port a barren  tree  or  one  which  produces  inferior  fruit,  when  the 
ground  upon  which  it  stands  will  support  one  which  will  yield  an 
abundance  of  luscious  fruit? 
I know  a grower  in  California  who  improved  a vineyard  in 
which  about  25  per  cent,  of  the  vines  were  barren  and  in  which  an- 
other 25  per  cent,  were  yielding  small  inferior  grapes.  Two  years 
of  selecting,  the  first  year  marking  the  vines  with  white  paint,  the 
second  year  remarking  those  vines  which  retained  the  desired  type 
of  grape  with  red  paint  and  only  taking  cuttings  from  these, 
enabled  the  owner  to  plant  a vineyard  of  what  we  would  call  pedi- 
greed stock  and  when  it  came  into  bearing,  every  vine  produced 
and  every  bunch  of  grapes  looked  alike  and  commanded  the  high- 
est value  in  the  New  York  market. 
Such  inspiration  for  better  products  and  for  higher  horticul- 
tural work  can  be  traced  indirectly  to  Burbank's  work.  This 
work  not  only  occurs  in  California,  but  all  over  the  United  States 
and  in  nearly  every  country  now  students  of  the  Burbank  school 
are  cropping  up  every  day.  Our  great  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture at  Washington  is  thoroughly  equipped  along  the  plant-breed- 
ing work  and  is  accomplishing  good  work.  Nearly  every  Experi- 
ment Station  and  Agricultural  College  is  teaching  plant-breed- 
ing. Many  individuals,  in  fact  the  number  now  is  beyond  count- 
ing, have  taken  up  the  work  and  it  is  a common  thing  to  hear  of 
Mrs.  D’s  new  rose  on  Mr.  K’s  new  chrysanthemum,  even  here  I 
have  heard  of  somebody’s  hibiscus  seedlings  or  crosses.  Bur- 
bank’s success  no  doubt  has  made  itself  felt  in  this  individual  love 
for  plant  breeding,  so  that  after  all  this  is  a great  world  in  this 
