90 LUTHER BURBANK 



course of a few generations through systematic 

 selection. 



The same thing is illustrated by another of my 

 cherries which, by careful attention to a combina- 

 tion of qualities that would ordinarily be quite 

 overlooked, had its stem so strongly anchored to 

 the stone that when the fruit is picked the flesh 

 is removed, leaving stem and stone on the tree. 



Now it will be recalled that, in the case of the 

 prune, it is a serious defect to have the fruit so 

 firmly attached to the stem that it clings to the 

 tree after ripening. A prune must drop of its 

 own accord when ripe or the commercial grower 

 will have none of it. But the quality that would 

 make a prune commercially worthless, when ac- 

 centuated in the cherry, becomes a mark of pos- 

 sible exceptional value. The cherry that leaves 

 its stone on the tree might conceivably fill a 

 special purpose. So this variation in the inherent 

 properties of the cherry might produce a new 

 race of commercial value to meet an exceptional 

 need. 



It requires but little imagination to suggest 

 possible developments that would similarly give 

 added value to the fruits of various species. 



For example, there is the matter of color in 

 the pear. Unlike most other fruits, this one, as 

 everyone knows, is for the most part lacking in 



