THE PRUNE 43 



qualities that specifically characterize the prune 

 even in a minimum degree. 



The progenitors of the seedlings may have 

 been prunes of fair quality; but the seedlings 

 themselves have gone back to the blanket stage 

 of plum development. 



The chances against securing even a single 

 fruit that combines all the desired qualities 

 among any given lot of seedlings are so small as 

 to be almost disheartening. 



Indeed when the plant developer brings 

 together two strains, each carrying its galaxies 

 of more or less antagonistic characters, it is not 

 altogether unlike scattering the letters of the 

 alphabet in a whirlwind and expecting them to 

 fall together in some chance eddy in such a way 

 as to spell out some specified word. 



MARKING PROGRESS 



I was not unmindful of the difficulties of the 

 project, but nevertheless the obvious need of a 

 better prune than California growers had been 

 able to secure by importation appealed to me 

 from the time of my first coming to the State; 

 and when I undertook plant experimentation 

 on a large scale, the development of the prune 

 was one of the things that first engaged my 

 attention. 



