LUTHER BURBANK 
new surroundings, for the good of the offspring 
and the race. It takes very little meat, and very 
little in the way of attractive appearance to 
accomplish this purpose; and besides, the wild 
plum has to put so much of its vitality into stone, 
in order to protect the seed within it from the 
sharp teeth of the same animals which carry it 
away, that it has little energy left to devote to 
beauty and flavor. 
“Then take the same wild plum after it has 
been brought under cultivation and as it grows 
in the average backyard, and you will find a 
transformation — less stone, more meat, better 
flavor, finer aroma, more regular shape, brighter 
color. 
“This, however, represents but the first stage 
in the progress of the plum; with all this 
improvement the backyard plum still may not 
be useful for any commercial purpose; because 
people with plum trees in their backyards are 
likely to eat the fruit off the tree, or to give it 
to their neighbors, or to cook and preserve it as 
soon as ripe. So, even the cultivated backyard 
plum may be perfectly satisfactory for its purpose 
without having those keeping qualities necessary 
in a commercial fruit. 
“And this is the point at which the Union 
Pacific Railroad entered into its environment—at 
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