The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1905-04-01
WORKING MIRAclra
a Million Plants Sometime. Ia
Mr.. burbank In a sinaIa r. W

non PLANTS Sometimes Used h,
mr. burbank In a Single Te.t.
HOW does Luther Burbank u,orl, IT..
wondersF Here are two pIants-one
from Australia, perhaps, the Other
from Siberia. Each plant has ia
characteristics, Its life habits. its strnc.
lure, It's hereditary tendencies lie
cisunet from all others. Each has
preserved its Identity thousan1
years not varying to any great extent
through the long centuries. He takes
these TWO plants and gives them rho
opportunity to unite. Struggle as each
may with the fervor Of 10000 Years
OF habit all powerfully upon it. it can.
not overcome the change.
The pollen from one Of the f,owars
mas found Its way to the stigma of the
other borne by the sensitive finger.
ups or man accustomed to wait with
patience the outcome of his proiects
a year passes. The seed from the new
plant is planted. From 1t may come
a plant like both Of its ancestors. or
ike neither, like nothing yet born In
the vegetable life Of the world.
And this is what is sought: TO mako
IT different to break up its life tenden-
cies, to recombine the hereditary influ-
ences Of Its ancestry. In the breaking
up 1t may produce a whole series Of
monstrosities, the most strange and
grotesque plants that ever took root
III the soil Of the earth. Some of these
plants are hideous, and all such are
put to death. For the object is not
to produce abnormality, but a splendid
form, plant which shall have the
best characteristics Of both parents
and become new and powerful fac
tor in the beauty or the utility Of the
race. The next year and the next
there are more seeds and more plants;
and In a few years, so great is the
progression, there may be 100000.
Bear in mind that some Of the great
est botanists Of this and other days
have carried on their Investigations
into plant life and made their deduc-
tons and formulated their laws upon
working basis Of perhaps a dozen
plants. Mr.. Burbank has used as many
as a million plants for a single test,
and he has more than once rejected
every one Of the millions, save, per
haps, half dozen or even less
When the great mass of plants In a
given test Is ready for the final Sou
tiny to see what ones shall be allow
ed to live, then comes the exercise of
the most wonderful faculty OF the
man. He must go over every one OF
these plants, be 1t ten thousand or a
million, and select from them such MS
are fit for use In continuation of the
test. This he does with marvellous
rapidly. With aids to bring him the
plants, he passes upon them with such
rapidity that hundred thousand may
be decided upon in a single day.
II all Of these plants had to be test
ed in the usual way, it would cost n
least 100000. Each would have tC
be set out by itself, covering a con
siderable surface Of valuable land
each would have to be cultivated AM
cared for for four or five years; eacl
would have to be grated. II
a single day this one man accom-
plishes what could be reached other
wise only by years Of waiting and by
an enormous attendant expense, hi
masterly Judgment, backed by won
derful intuition, enabling him to &C
complish that which indeed seems lit
tie short Of a misunderstanding.