LUTHER BURBANK 
crossed with the apple. But none of them gave 
any indication of producing blossoms, let alone 
fruit. These, like the quince-apple hybrid seed- 
lings, being cnly cumberers of ground which was 
needed for other purposes, were destroyed. 
It will be seen, then, that nothing of practical 
importance came of my experiments in hybridiz- 
ing the apple with its remoter cousins. Never- 
theless the proof that such hybridization is pos- 
sible must be regarded as highly interesting. It 
seems by no means unlikely that further tests 
along these lines might result in revealing some 
varieties of these various fruits that would com- 
bine more advantageously and produce fertile off- 
spring. 
As I have said in another connection, there is 
perhaps no opportunity open to the amateur fruit 
grower that suggests greater possibilities of really 
important discoveries than this. Out of a union 
of apple and quince or apple and pear might very 
possibly come a new fruit that would constitute an 
acquisition of the very greatest value to the or- 
chardist. 
But even if the practical or economic results 
should prove meagre, such a series of experiments 
might still have a large measure of scientific in- 
terest, more than justifying the time and labor de- 
voted to them. So little work—relatively speak- 
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