Luther Burbank, his methods and discoveries and their practical application; prepared from his original field notes covering more than 100,000 experiments made during forty years devoted to plant improvement . st bid at theoutset. The obvious explanation both of the methodand of its somewhat anomalous results is found inthe fact that individuals differ in their judgmentas to what constitute the superior qualities of Each bidder has noted an animal thatparticularly appeals to him, and each is backinghis own judgment in making selection. The resultis a process of elimination that may or m
Luther Burbank, his methods and discoveries and their practical application; prepared from his original field notes covering more than 100,000 experiments made during forty years devoted to plant improvement . st bid at theoutset. The obvious explanation both of the methodand of its somewhat anomalous results is found inthe fact that individuals differ in their judgmentas to what constitute the superior qualities of Each bidder has noted an animal thatparticularly appeals to him, and each is backinghis own judgment in making selection. The resultis a process of elimination that may or may notselect from the herd the best animals at the veryoutset. But what have cows and their selection to dowith the development of new varieties of plants?you ask. Nothing direct and obvious to be sure. But ithas often occurred to me that the process of selec-tion at the Iowa auctions is closely comparable tothat which is employed by the plant experimenterin the course of his every-day work. In lieu of aherd of cattle, he deals with a group of his task is precisely like that of the auctionbidder in that he must select from among scoresof plants of the same kind, and often of closely [276]. Chilian Beans This lot oj beans affords another striking instance ofthe wide range oJ variation among the seeds of individualplants of the same species. It may be assumed that these widely diver-gent seeds represent various heredities. Each plant is, in pointof fact, a mosaic of characteristics inherited from linesof ancestry. In Mr. Burbanks phrase, heredity isthe sum of past environments. A curious andimportant feature of the matter is that thedifferent racial strains may be segregated,as illustrated in this lot of beans. LUTHER BURBANK similar appearance, the one that seems to him thechoice of the entire lot; and then in succession thesecond and third and fourth best, until he haschosen possibly six or eight individuals out of agroup of hundreds or thousands. These six
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