18 LUTHER BURBANK 



Two of these, named respectively the Dela- 

 ware and the Hale, were hybrids of a double 

 oriental stock, one parent being the Kelsey, a 

 Japanese plum introduced by the orchardist 

 whose name it bears, and the other my Japanese 

 Satsuma. 



A third was a hybrid between a Japanese 

 plum named the Sweet Botan, or Golden, and 

 the Robinson, an American plum of the Chicka- 

 saw race. 



Two others were crosses of the Robinson and 

 Abundance. 



The sixth was a cross between the Kelsey and 

 the Burbank, its ancestral strains being there- 

 fore Japanese. This plum was first named Per- 

 fection, but it was afterward renamed the 

 Wickson, in honor of Professor Edward J. 

 Wickson of the University of California. 



All these are exceptional plums, but the 

 Wickson was preeminent in virtue of its com- 

 bination of good qualities. The tree grows up- 

 right, largely in vase form. It branches grace- 

 fully, and it is productive almost to a fault. The 

 fruit is large and handsome. From the time 

 when it is half grown to a few days before 

 ripening it is pearly white in color, but all at once 

 numerous pink dots appear, and in a few days it 

 has turned to green flushed with crimson with a 



