124 LUTHER BURBANK 



the blueness of blood, so to speak, of every one 

 of them. 



That there are four hundred families in my 

 patrician cherry colony is a matter of accident, 

 quite uninfluenced by any thought of imitation. 

 It chances that year by year the process of elim- 

 ination about balances the process of addition to 

 the family, and the census of the colony is not 

 greatly altered. 



Reference has been made in various earlier 

 chapters to the origin and development of the 

 patrician cherries. They are closely related as 

 to their remote ancestry, as I suppose is the case 

 with the members of every other aristocracy. 

 Yet, as we have seen, the ancestral traits are 

 variously blended in the different families, and 

 there is notable diversity among them as to indi- 

 vidual traits. Some of them bear fruit that is 

 vividly red in color, others fruit that is pallid, or 

 purple, or black; and there are corresponding 

 divergences as to flavor, freedom of stone, sugar 

 content, and all the rest of the complex charac- 

 teristics of a well-bred cherry. 



Of course these qualities are variously recom- 

 bined in the progeny of each new generation. 

 So I can never tell what surprise is in store 

 for me when seedlings are raised from the 

 fruit. 



