196 LUTHER BURBANK 



that will make it resistant to most of the attacks 

 of insects and fungoid pests. 



Next I ask what warrant there is for suppos- 

 ing that such a fruit structure can be built. 



And here the answer is supplied solely by the 

 use of imagination in connection with an inspec- 

 tion of the existing races and varieties of cherries. 

 On examining the best fruits already in the or- 

 chard, we find that there is a large measure of 

 variation between the cherries grown on differ- 

 ent kinds of trees, as well as between the indi- 

 vidual specimens on the same tree. 



In imagination I look back far into the past 

 and inquire as to the racial history of this fruit 

 and am led to believe that certain among the an- 

 cestors of the cherry have grown in semitropical 

 climates, and I know that even in the present day 

 there are species, doubtless sprung from the same 

 original stock, that grow far up into Canada. 



Why is it that the cherry shows such a propen- 

 sity to vary? The answer is found in the assump- 

 tion that the existing cultivated races carry in 

 their veins, so to speak tendencies drawn from 

 varied strains of a mixed ancestry. 



And I know that it should be possible, by ac- 

 centuating the tendency to variation through fur- 

 ther hybridizing, and by careful combinations 

 and selections, to attain the object sought. 



