118 LUTHER BURBANK 



It has been my aim to combine the desirable 

 qualities of different races of cherries from these 

 widely separated regions, and the task here, as 

 in so many other instances, has chiefly consisted 

 in persistent selection among multitudes of seed- 

 lings of widely diverse types. 



The foundation stock with which I began 

 chiefly was the variety known as Early Purple 

 Guigne, crossed with the Black Tartarian; but 

 in subsequent crosses the qualities of Russian, 

 French, and American cherries and of numerous 

 others were introduced, in an attempt to achieve 

 the ideal cherry. 



A familiar but notable characteristic of the 

 cherry, in which it differs markedly from most 

 other fruits, is its habit of ripening at the very 

 beginning of summer, while many of the small 

 fruits are not yet in blossom. This character- 

 istic gives the cherry peculiar commercial value, 

 as it comes on the market at a time when there is 

 a scarcity of fruits. 



It occurred to me many years ago that there 

 would be a still greater advantage if a good 

 cherry could be produced that ripened much 

 earlier than any variety then known. 



So early ripening was one of the first ideals 

 at which I aimed. With that object in view it 

 was natural to select for these early hybridizing 



