352 LUTHER BURBANK 



The new varieties of plums have largely modi- 

 fied and expanded an extensive industry, making 

 plums of the finest quality an everyday food 

 for the masses instead of a luxury. The lessons 

 inculcated by the experiments in hybridization 

 through which these new races have been devel- 

 oped have served as a guide to countless other 

 experimenters in plant breeding, and have made 

 views that seemed heretical thirty years ago seem 

 commonplace matter of fact to-day. 



They have almost revolutionized the work of 

 plant improvement. 



The materials through which this really sig- 

 nificant modification both in the practice and the 

 theory of plant development was brought about 

 were drawn from five great divisions of the globe 

 five regions with different soils, climates, and 

 natural conditions, and with a human population 

 of correspondingly divergent habits and tastes. 



And in return the new races of Burbank 

 plums, prunes, peaches, cherries, apples, and 

 plumcots are being sent back vastly modified and 

 improved to the diverse regions from which their 

 ancestors came, and in addition are making their 

 way in some regions where no fruit of such 

 qualities could be grown on a commercial 

 scale before. 



