326 LUTHER BURBANK 



White," but this was very obviously a misnomer 

 as the fruit itself was never white, but of a dull 

 brownish yellow. It has 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. It may perhaps be re- 

 garded 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 ex- 

 perimental purposes soon after its introduction, 

 believing that it might offer possibilities of im- 

 provement. 



Making use of the principles I have found suc- 

 cessful with other plants, my first thought was to 



