FRUIT IMPROVEMENT 89 



the inherent properties of the plant organism as 

 a whole that will determine the average char- 

 acter of the fruit. 



BREEDING FOR QUALITY 



As to the special qualities of fruit that call for 

 improvement, details, of course, differ with dif- 

 ferent species. We have seen that sugar content 

 is an all-important item in the case of the prune; 

 and that sweetness and flavor and color are mat- 

 ters of importance in the case of the cherry. We 

 have also seen with what relative ease varieties 

 may be developed that surpass their parent forms 

 in these regards. 



An interesting illustration of the possibility of 

 breeding new qualities into a fruit or accentuat- 

 ing old ones, to which reference has not hitherto 

 been made, is manifested by one of my new 

 cherries, which through selective breeding be- 

 came so sweet that its sugar content acts as a 

 preservative, quite as in the case of the Sugar 

 prune. 



These cherries, instead of decaying rapidly 

 after ripening, dry on the tree in a state of per- 

 fect preservation. This particular feature is of 

 no present commercial value, but the case illus- 

 trates the possibility of altering the inherent 

 qualities of a fruit, and of doing this in the 



