FOUR BURBANK PRUNES 63 



"I was one of the first to introduce this fine 

 fruit into our locality, the first year the grafting 

 wood was placed on the market. I bought seven 

 feet of wood for $70. The same was grafted 

 into Tragedy prune trees, using one bud for each 

 cion. The following fall and winter I sold about 

 $600 worth of buds and cions from the ten trees 

 which I had grafted with the Sugar prune cions." 



THE BEST PRUNE THE STANDARD 



Preeminent as are the qualities of the >Sugar 

 prune, there is always room for improvement. 



I endeavored to make such improvement by 

 the usual method of crossbreeding. 



About 1897 I combined the Sugar prune with 

 the Tragedy. There were only twelve or fifteen 

 seedlings from the cross. But these were care- 

 fully grafted upon older trees, on larger 

 branches where they would be in less danger of 

 injury. This, of course, made the bearing of 

 fruit a year later than if they had been placed 

 upon the smaller branches. But it seemed worth 

 while to wait for fruits of such high promise. 



The whole tree was given over to each of the 

 seedlings. Nor was this exceptional solicitude 

 unavailing. For among these carefully nurtured 

 cions was one that bore a fruit that surpassed 

 even the hitherto matchless Sugar prune. 



