LUTHER BURBANK 



continued year after year. The tree so far out- 

 stripped all competitors in the matter of growth 

 that it might fairly be said to represent a new 

 type of vegetation. 



On this account, and in recognition of sundry 

 other anomalies, I named them Paradox. 



At sixteen years of age these trees were sixty 

 feet in height and as much in breadth of branches, 

 the trunk being two feet in diameter at about four 

 feet from the ground. Meantime English walnuts 

 on the opposite side of the street averaged only 

 eight or nine inches in diameter at thirty-two 

 years of age, and had a spread of branches only 

 about one-fourth that of the youthful Paradox. 



In addition to its quality of rapid growth, the 

 Paradox has wide-spreading branches with a 

 tendency to droop. It makes a beautiful shade 

 tree. The leaves are of extraordinary length, 

 sometimes measuring three feet, although usually 

 only about half that. Another curious charac- 

 teristic is that the foliage has a delicious apple- 

 like fragrance, of which the foliage of the parent 

 tree gives no suggestion. 



These anomalies of growth and foliage show 

 the mingling of racial strains. A further result 

 of this mingling is shown in the fact that the 

 hybrid tree produces very few nuts. It is obvious 

 that the two strains brought together are so variant 



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