ON SPECIFIC NEEDS 
prune, it is a serious defect to have the fruit so 
firmly attached to the stem that it clings to the 
tree after ripening. A prune must drop of its own 
accord when ripe or the prune dealer will have 
none of it. But the quality that would make a 
prune commercially worthless, when accentuated 
in the cherry, becomes a mark of possible cxcep- 
tional value. The cherry that leaves its stone on 
the tree might conceivably fill a special purpose. 
So this variation in the inherent properties of the 
cherry might produce a new race of commercial 
value to meet an exceptional need. 
It requires but little ingenuity to suggest pos- 
sible developments that would similarly give 
added value to the fruits of various species. 
For example, there is the matter of color in the 
pear. Unlike most other fruits, this one, as every- 
one knows, is for the most part lacking in the 
brilliant color that purchasers of fruit in the 
market usually find so attractive. But there is 
no reason why pears of various brilliant and at- 
tractive colors should not be developed just as 
colored apples have been developed. 
Our native crab apple is dull greenish brown 
or dull red, and unattractive in color even when 
ripe. Of course this is not the direct progenitor of 
the cultivated apple, but it obviously belongs to 
a closely related strain, and it shows us the apple 
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