The power of environment : nurture versus nature / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D.
- Date:
- [1914]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The power of environment : nurture versus nature / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![when brought to California from the southern hemisphere. As a typical instance, we may recall Mr. Bur- bank’s Winter Rhubarb. This plant, when Mr. Burbank first imported it from Australia, had a stalk scarcely larger than a lead pencil. The sole value of the plant from an economic standpoint, and the thing that gave it chief interest for Mr. Burbank, was the fact that it had the habit of put- ting forth stalks in cold weather. Lower temperature appeared to have the effect of stimulating it, just as high temperatures stimulate most other vegetables. Mr. Burbank saw in this peculiar habit the possibility of producing a valuable market vege- table that would mature at times when the ordinary pie-plant is dormant. The expectation was verified. Under the changed environmental conditions of California, the winter rhubarb de- veloped wonderfully, without hybridization, until its stalk was many times larger than the original plant from the antipodes. Meantime it retained its habit of putting forth stalks most abundantly during the period of cold weather. But of course the winter season in California corresponds with the summer in Australia. So in putting forth its stalks in cold weather at Santa Rosa the plant was modifying its habit radically, [4]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33628427_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
