, but never
intruding upon his speech. There is always a suggestion of shyness in
his manner, and there is ever present a deep respectfulness. He is
frank, open-hearted, and out-spoken. All his actions are artless and
quiet; even the modulations of his voice follow the lower keys."

But, you ask, what marvelous things has this modest man done that
should make his name a household word the world over?

All truly great people have high ideals that guide them in their work.
The one ideal that guides Mr. Burbank is his love for humanity.
Naturally sympathetic, he cannot endure the thought of human
suffering.

Since so much human misery is due to lack of food, to hunger, he has
resolved if possible to make the world produce more bread. But how can
he do this? If only he can get each head of wheat to produce just one
additional grain then the problem will be solved--for then the wheat
crop of this country will be increased five million two hundred
thousand bushels. Year after year he worked at this task until finally
each head of wheat actually did produce more grains. Now that he has
succeeded in increasing the yield of wheat, he has resolved not to
stop until the yield of all the cereals is increased in a like
manner.

By what principle, then, does he accomplish these marvelous feats?
What are his methods? Eager as we are to understand them, doubtless
most of us must wait until we have learned a great deal about science,
for his methods are extremely scientific.

Though unable to comprehend his methods, we are able to appreciate the
results of his work. So marvelous are these results that they seem
like fairy tales. For example, he has developed a white blackberry;
but this is not all, he has developed blackberry plants so large that
a single plant produces more than a bushel of berries.

I am sure that we all like strawberries so well that sometimes we have
wished that the strawberry season were not so short; and in the future
it will not be, for he has produced plants that bear strawberries all
summer.

Mr. Burbank, knowing that boys and girls are likely to hit their
fingers cracking walnuts, has developed a walnut with a very thin
shell, so thin in fact that the birds can break through it and help
themselves to the meat. Now he has to thicken the shell again.

How should you like to eat a peach that had, instead of the ordinary
stone, a fine almond in the center? In the future you may eat just
such peaches, fo