LUTHER BURBANK 
It has been suggested that a globular or apple- 
shaped pear with a short stem would be acceptable 
to the packers because it would crate more com- 
pactly and carry better than the ordinary pear. 
But this would rob the fruit of one of its distinctive 
characters, so'on the whole the change would 
probably not be an improvement. In the matter 
of size, also, it would appear that the pear, in its 
best varieties, has attained a maximum develop- 
ment. 
To make it much larger would be detrimental, 
as it would probably be torn from the tree by 
the wind. Even now some varieties are so large 
that they break away from the tree before ripen- 
ing, and so these varieties are avoided. The 
Beurre Clairgeau, one of the best of pears, is little 
grown for this very reason. 
But in matter of flavor there is still oppor- 
tunity for indefinite variation. Some European 
cultivators have recently produced remarkably 
pleasing and varied flavors in this fruit. An illus- 
tration of how the flavor of a fruit may be rad- 
ically modified is furnished by my Apple Plum, 
which, while retaining the characteristic attributes 
of its race, curiously simulates the apple in the 
matter of form and even in taste and texture. 
Another instance is my Bartlett plum, which 
out-Bartletts the Bartlett pear in its own peculiar 
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