154 LUTHER BURBANK 



Hence among the multitude of seedlings that 

 were produced by these hybridizing experiments, 

 this trait, along with a multitude of other sub- 

 merged ancestral traits, was now able to make 

 itself manifest. And it was my task, by a proc- 

 ess of selection, to make sure that the character 

 was preserved. 



The matter is perhaps made a little clearer if 

 we reflect that in any race of domestic plants 

 there is a considerable range of variation as to 

 size of fruit, abundance of bearing, and time 

 of fruitage. Such variations represent, as we 

 have pointed out, the varying traits of diverse 

 strains of ancestors. But it must be observed 

 that there are always somewhat clearly de- 

 fined limits beyond which variation does not 

 readily go. 



Among all the thousands of types of prunes 

 grown on the seedlings of my hybrid colony or on 

 the grafts on some receptive tree, there will be 

 individual fruits varying, let us say, from one- 

 half inch in length to perhaps two and a half 

 inches but apparently there will not be a fruit 

 six inches in length. 



Similarly among these seedlings there will be 

 some that ripen their fruit as early as the first of 

 July, but none that ripen so early as the first 

 of May. 



