LUTHER BURBANK 
I speak thus of the fuzz of the peach as being 
superfluous, but on second thought we cannot be 
too sure that it really serves the fruit no useful 
function. 
Indeed, the inference should be rather the other 
way. 
At least we may feel sure that unless the woolly 
coating at some time served a very important 
purpose, it would never have been developed; or, 
having been developed, it would not have been 
retained. 
That is assuming, however, that the peach de- 
veloped this unusual fruit covering in a state of 
nature, and without the aid of man’s selective in- 
fluence, which it certainly did. 
How THE Peacu Got Its Coat 
If it could be shown that the fuzz was devel- 
oped only after the peach came under cultivation, 
and in response to man’s wishes, the case would 
be altered. In that event it might readily be that 
the fuzzy covering, appearing first as an acci- 
dental “sport,” had been retained because it 
pleased the fancy of some plant experimenter, or 
met the taste of some influential market man— 
say of Athens in the olden days, or of Rome in 
the time of its power. 
But in all probability the peach had its fuzzy 
coat at a time vastly more remote than this. It is 
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