THE PRUNE 33 



amount of sugar, but the percentage is relatively 

 small with most fruits of temperate climates. 

 The contrast in this regard between the average 

 wild plum and such a fruit as the fig or the date 

 is very striking. 



But we have seen illustrated over and over 

 that a habit once ingrained in a race is with very 

 great difficulty shaken off altogether, so it is not 

 strange that, under exceptional circumstances or 

 conditions of soil and climate, an individual plum 

 tree might show reversion to the state of some 

 ancestor and produce a fruit much sweeter than 

 other plums. 



Such an individual, if its fruit came to the 

 attention of the orchardist, would be likely to be 

 preserved and propagated; and in the course of 

 time, through selection among the seedlings of 

 this tree, a race of sweet plums would be 

 developed. 



But is is only under conditions of artificial cul- 

 tivation, in all probability, that such a race could 

 be preserved. 



For, of course, the production of a large 

 amount of sugar must draw on the energies 

 of the tree, and if this increased sweetness 

 of fruit did not prove beneficial to the tree 

 itself, natural selection would presently weed 

 it out. 



2 Vol. 4 Bur. 



