22 LUTHER BURBANK 



the way already detailed, it is impossible to test 

 any given seedling as to its fruit possibilities in 

 less than two or three years. So there are only 

 twelve to fifteen generations at most between my 

 first hybrids and the seedlings of the present 

 year. 



It is not to be supposed that all the possibili- 

 ties of the multiple ancestry will be realized in 

 any given individual within that comparatively 

 short number of generations. 



So, notwithstanding the notable results of the 

 experiments up to the present, I have every ex- 

 pectation that the real greatness of my plum 

 colony is yet to be revealed. 



Meantime it is gratifying to record that 

 unprejudiced witnesses in many parts of the 

 world have declared the members of the quartet 

 just named to be each in its way without a rival, 

 Each of the four has certain points of excellence, 

 to meet the requirements of a different market. 

 But, as a group, the four stand in a class by 

 themselves. 



And in token that this is not a matter of 

 accident, let me recall that in the production of 

 these four plums selection has been made, in the 

 course of successive generations, from not fewer 

 than seven and a half million seedlings. Perhaps 

 this bald statement will serve, in connection with 



