LUTHER BURBANK 



your plum stone became smaller." And then, 

 becoming quite serious, my visitor inspected a 

 series of fragmentary plum stones that had been 

 placed before him, and added: 



"To make a stone grow smaller was certainly 

 a notable feat. How did you manage it?" 



This is a question that has been asked more 

 often, in connection with the stoneless plum, 

 than in the case of almost any other of my plant 

 productions. For a plum which looks on the 

 outside precisely like any other, but which is 

 found to be stoneless, never fails to excite 

 surprise. 



Even visitors who know what to expect, when 

 asked to bite through one of these specimens, 

 can seldom refrain from exclamations of wonder 

 when the teeth go right through the fruit as 

 readily as they would through a strawberry. 



Many persons are not greatly interested in the 

 daisy that combines four specific strains, because 

 they know nothing of the difficulty of making such 

 a union, and are quite unmoved by the spectacle 

 of a white blackberry or a fragrant calla, 

 because they have seen white fruits before, and 

 because fragrant flowers are rather the rule than 

 the exception. But no one ever saw an edible 

 stone-fruit without a stone until one was pro- 

 duced here on my farm. 



[106] 



