LUTHER BURBANK 



He called the berry "Crystal White," but this was 

 very obviously a misnomer as the fruit itself was 

 never white, but of a dull brownish yellow. It 

 had as little pretension to beauty as to size or 

 excellence of flavor, and was introduced simply 

 as a curiosity. 



When a white blackbird appears in a flock, it 

 is usually a pure albino of milky whiteness. It 

 may be regarded as a pathological specimen, in 

 which, for some unknown reason, the pigment that 

 normally colors the feathers of birds is altogether 

 lacking. 



It is not unlikely that the original so-called 

 white blackberry was also an albino of this 

 pathological type. But if so, hybridization had 

 produced a mongrel race before the plant was 

 discovered by man, or at least before any record 

 was made of its discovery; for, as just noted, the 

 berry introduced by Mr. Lovett could be termed 

 white only by courtesy. 



Nevertheless the berry differed very markedly 

 from the normal blackberry, which, as everyone 

 knows, is of a glossy blackness when ripe. So 

 my interest in the anomalous fruit was at once 

 aroused, and I sent for some specimens for 

 experimental purposes soon after its introduc- 

 tion, believing that it might offer possibilities of 

 improvement. 



[40] 



