88 LUTHER BURBANK 



in earlier chapters of this work, together with a 

 fair degree of patience and persistency, to insure 

 some measure of success. 



There is one additional hint that it might not 

 be amiss to emphasize. In selecting seed for 

 planting, it is desirable, of course, to select from 

 varieties which produce the largest and best 

 specimens. But it should be recalled that the 

 real test of quality in a tree is not the production 

 of exceptional individual fruits, but the size,' 

 beauty, and quality of the average fruit that 

 it bears. 



Exceptional conditions of nutrition may cause 

 a single apple to grow very large on a branch 

 that as a rule produces only fruit of meager pro- 

 portions. Seedlings from this exceptional fruit 

 do not inherit the exceptional quality of their 

 parent. 



It is the germ of the tree itself that counts. 

 Seed from a very small apple of a good variety 

 will, other things being equal, produce better 

 offspring than the seed of a very much larger in- 

 dividual specimen of a poor variety; so it is far 

 better to select the poorest fruit of a good variety 

 rather than the best of an ordinary variety. 



This principle should always be borne in mind 

 in undertaking plant development of any kind, 

 not merely with reference to orchard fruits. It is 



