ON SPECIFIC NEEDS 
qualities of the new fruits as contrasted with the 
old. But no fruit has really been perfected, in the 
sense of having reached the limits of improve- 
ment. 
There are numberless opportunities for better- 
ment even in the case of the very finest varieties 
of fruits of every kind. 
The successive chapters of the present volume 
will be devoted to specific suggestions as to the 
betterment of each of the important classes of 
orchard fruits. In the present chapter, it is my 
purpose to take a general survey of the field, 
pointing out various lines of betterment not so 
much with reference to any particular fruit, al- 
though we shall constantly draw our illustrations 
from specific fields, as with reference to the 
entire class of orchard fruits. 
The suggestions here outlined are the result of 
lifelong association with trees of the orchard. 
Probably not less than half my experiments of 
every character have been conducted in connec- 
tion with one form or another of fruit trees. 
And a very large proportion of my most im- 
portant new products, considered from an eco- 
nomic standpoint, have been products of the 
orchard. 
As To MERE SIZE 
Almost the first thought that comes to one 
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