8 LUTHER BURBANK 



bility to wide ranges of climate. The fruit is 

 unique in form It averages large in size, with 

 a high percentage of flesh to stone, and with both 

 skin and flesh of high color. 



The brilliant purple, crimson, pink, and yel- 

 low shades shown by some of the modern hybrids 

 are a tribute to the Japanese members of their 

 ancestral stock. 



But while the Japanese plums have these 

 signal merits they are not without their faults. 

 Many of them are small and most of them lack 

 flavor, and freestone qualities had not been de- 

 veloped in the slightest degree. Many of them 

 lack timeliness of bearing ; others bloom so early 

 that the crop is often destroyed by late spring 

 frosts or heavy rains. 



Moreover the Japanese often eat plums that 

 are hard and green, preserving them by pickling ; 

 therefore they have sometimes neglected to ap- 

 preciate the sweetness and flavor of the fruit. 



These, obviously, are defects that the plant 

 improver must bear constantly in mind when he 

 sets out to separate and recombine the traits of 

 his company of plums. 



The Chinese, near neighbors of the Japanese, 

 developed plums of a different type. The Jap- 

 anese plum is known as Prunus triflora; it per- 

 haps originated or was developed in Korea, south- 



