190 LUTHER BURBANK 



It is probably but a short time, as compared 

 with the entire stretch of their racial histories; 

 since the two fruits branched from the same stem. 

 And so it is quite to be expected that the two 

 would readily cross. In point of fact, the experi- 

 ment of cross-pollenizihg is so readily performed 

 that it is very often carried out by the bees. 



The hand pollenizer may make the test suc- 

 cessfully without the slightest difficulty. 



I was led to experiment along this line perhaps 

 by the recollection of an old peach tree called a 

 "Melocotoon," four of which stood in our home 

 garden in New England, and one of which had 

 a single branch high up in the tree that always 

 bore a fruit quite different from the peaches with 

 which its other branches were laden. This anom- 

 alous fruit, which appeared as a "bud sport" was 

 in fact a nectarine. 



I had learned also that when peaches and nec- 

 tarines were grown in the same neighborhood, 

 one could never be certain as to which fruit would 

 grow when the seed of either fruit was planted. 



You may plant a peach seed and grow a nec- 

 tarine tree; or, less frequently, you may grow a 

 peach tree from a nectarine seed. 



The explanation, of course, is that the two 

 tribes are constantly intercrossed when growing 

 side by side, through the agency of the bees. 



