BOG LUTHER BURBANK 



the Japanese races are incomparably superior to* 

 the American have such qualities as furnish a 

 secure foundation on which to develop a really 

 notable orchard fruit. 



FIG AND MULBERRY 



Another series of experiments that I have 

 carried on, as yet unsuccessful, with subtropical 

 fruits, is the hybridization of the fig and the 

 mulberry. 



The fig, as is well known, grows abundantly 

 in California. Nearly everyone has learned that 

 for many years after it was introduced the fig 

 was a very poor bearer, blossoming abundantly, 

 but failing to ripen satisfactory fruit. The 

 trouble, as was presently discovered, was that 

 the peculiar minute species of wasp, which is the 

 sole bearer of pollen from the male or so-called 

 Capri fig to the pistillate flowers, was not found 

 in California. So soon as this insect was im 

 ported from Italy, figs of good quality were 

 borne in abundance by hitherto barren trees. 



The fig has been under cultivation perhaps as 

 long as any other fruit, and it is exceedingly vari- 

 able when grown from seed. 



I have grown seedlings in abundance, but 99 

 out of 100 of them produced worthless fruit, at 

 least when quite young. 



