—_—_— _~ 
LUTHER BURBANK 
plants would, on the average, tend to manifest 
exceptional hardiness; and by successive selection 
through many generations it would thus be pos- 
sible, without question, to modify the sensitiveness 
of the apricot blossom in such a way as to adapt 
it for cultivation far beyond the limits of its 
present range. 
Of course such selective breeding would be 
subject to the usual difficulties and complications 
that attend the development of any new or ex- 
ceptional quality in an orchard fruit. 
Here, as elsewhere, there are complications due 
to the fact that the fruit will not grow true to type 
from seed. In this regard, however, the case of the 
apricot is somewhat more favorable than that of 
most other orchard fruits, because this species 
has been less widely cultivated, and is therefore 
less complex as to its hereditary tendencies than 
most others. 
Moreover, it is fairly easy in the case of the 
apricot to predict the qualities of the fruit from 
observation of the very young seedlings. In gen- 
eral the buds and leaves and wood in the first sea- 
son give one a fairly good idea as to what size and 
quality of fruit the future tree will bear. 
On the other hand, the apricot has a peculiar 
habit of sending out a young shoot, and then post- 
poning further growth until the buds set and 
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