26 LUTHER BURBANK 



to be eaten fresh. And this is proper enough, 

 for every prune is a plum, even though every 

 plum is not a prune by any manner of means." 



It is rather curious that this elementary bit of 

 botanical information should not be more widely 

 known. But my experience tells me that com- 

 paratively few persons living away from a prune- 

 growing district realize that the fruit with which 

 they are so familiar in the dry state was neither 

 more nor less than a plum before it was dried. 



In fact a prune might be spoken of as an edu- 

 cated plum and educated in a particular way. 



In a sense all plums of the present day are 

 educated. Each one has been brought, by selec- 

 tion, in the course of centuries to a point where 

 it is a highly edible fruit. My famous quartet of 

 developed plums, named in the preceding chap- 

 ter, are assuredly educated in a high degree. 

 Each of them is large in size, attractive in color, 

 delicious in flavor, and of such firm quality of 

 flesh as to bear shipping to distant markets. 



Yet no one of them has the particular kind of 

 education that is absolutely essential for a prune. 



Neither Wickson nor Santa Rosa nor For- 

 mosa nor Beauty plums would have the slightest 

 value as additions to the orchard of the prune 

 grower. The smallest and the poorest prune in 

 the orchard would be preferred. 



