Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-05-10

dozen plants. MIR. Burbank has g., =.
as many as million plants for a s,na,.
test. and he has more than once -
| jected every one Of the million -
perhaps. half Gozen or even less
when a great mass OF plants T.,
| given test Is ready for the a.,
| scrutiny to see which ones shall no -,
| lowed to live then comes the exo,.;"-
! of the most wonderful faculty ~ ,s'
man. He must so over everv ono =.
these plants, be 1t ten thousand mr. =
million. and select from them such a..
| are fit for use I'm continuation m ,h'
test This he does with marve,ou.
rapidity. With aids to bring hin, ,hs
plants. he passes upon them with such
| rapidity that hundred thousand NAV
be decided upon i'm a single day.
IF all these plants had to be testoa
In the usual way, it would cost at ,e,x,
"A million dollars. Each would har. !.
be set out by itself. covering rom
siderable surface of valuable land.
each would have to be cultivated and
cared for for four or five years. e,ch
would need to be grated. In a single
day this one man accomplishes shat
could be reached otherwise only hv
years of waiting and by an enormous
attendant expense. his mastery tudp.
ment. backed by wonderful iDtuition
enabling him to accomplish that which
| indeed seems little short Of a miracle
"a friend Of Mr.. Burbank some years
ago. having heard Of this wonderful
facility. suggested test. He did MT
douhf Mr. pu,.hanL'c u.nr5. -. -,
how could such a thing be possiblee So
several thousand plants-a series Of
plum seedlings-were selected and
turned over to Mr.. Burbank in the
usual way. AS they came before him
they were instantly separated into
three classes-good. mediocre and
worthless. Then all were planted to
decide the matter. When all the
plants had been growing long enough
several years-they were all tested
and i'm every instance the result Tailed
precisely with MIR. Burbank's selec.
ton.
"Said friend to him: How can you
tell, among a hundred thousand young
fruit trees or flowers or vegetables
those that are fit to live. saving only
perhaps single one out of the whole
maSe?'
1.-The answer came quickly. You zee
face on the street. thousand faces,
ten thousand. Instantly. as you see
each one. without thinking how or
why you do it, your mind shows you
the differences in those faces-there are
no two alike. If you are shrewd
% nj n1n I'M.
erringly whether any one of those ten
thousand is the one you want. You
cannot tell all the details of the life
before you. but the general character
istics you may read at a glance. I
read these plants as easily as l could
read human beings
Selection, means choosing for viril- 81
ity. for fecundity. for beauty, for re-
sistance to disease. In one expert.
ment-the production Of the white
blackberry'-Mr. Burbank chose one
plant out Of sixty-five thousand. All
the rest were found wanting and were
burned at the stake: from the single
bush came one of his most marvellous
creations. Not another one in the
siXty-five thousand had so far main
tanned the course laid out for II by the
leader that it could be trusted to it.
self.
Sometimes it Is two plants OF the
same species that are used. They ana
their fellows are not so thrifty not SO
productive. not so beautiful. as ne
would have them. He sees their fm-
perfeCtions: he sees their possibilities.
Here the same process of selection fol-
lows year after year. until. at last. the
old has given way to the new and
powerful life has replaced weak
one.
at may have been only a common
wild flower at first. now 1t is nooe
bloom. 1t may nave been wild ma
tive fruit. small. sour. acrid, distasfe-
full: now it is a splendid product. with
a delicious flavor. a meat rich in nutri-
ton. with a rich coIoring. 1t may
have been a tree stunted, slow growing.
virtually worthless: now 1t is spieh-
did figure i'm the forest. growing as
much in Il decade as its forebears DID
in a generation.
COR it may be the creation of an en- 70
tircly new species. 1t is the primus
berry. rightly named. a combination u
a raspberry and a blackberry.
Two lines of work are followed
81. Cross pOllination. when ~
cludes crossing. the mingling of strains
within a species. and hybridizatioh.
the breeding together of members !"
different species.
'2. Selection. choosing out SUI"
plants as are best adapted to the pur-
pose Of the experimenter."
When Mr.. Burbank crosses two
kinds to produce third. he iliustra'e'
what happens In this way: ~,
Here is a river, the life forces "
the plant. Here is the bank. the en-
The forces consta",y
pushing forward, are held In check =. J
the bank, and yet in some measu'.
each acts upon the other. There ma,
be a rock in the stream. which Ina.
make a ripple. turning the now aslu
for an instant. but the river does ho.
stop on its way to the sea. YET -.
place sufficient number OF TO-. TOT
with the other one, or II new ar
better channel is found, the wno
river Is turned. But no one can ".
where these rocks are to appear ~
one can foretell when the stream W"
change its course. or how or where,