?TO LUTHER BURBANK 



especially common with crossbred chestnuts) 

 even when thoroughly dead and dried, giving an 

 untidy appearance to the tree, while the leaves of 

 other seedlings fall at once and leave the branches 

 clean and free. 



This is a similar process to the parting of the 

 flesh from the pit in fruits, both being ripening 

 processes. 



There is every gradation between the com- 

 plete attachment we call "clingstone" and the 

 "freestone" condition. In some fruits there is 

 a single point of attachment; in others the 

 flesh adheres over a part of the surface while 

 the remainder may be wholly free from the 

 stone. 



There is also another form of partial separa- 

 tion found in some fruits where the flesh clings 

 tenaciously to the stone until fully ripe, when it 

 parts readily, while in others it may separate 

 from the fruit and be shaken about within it even 

 before thoroughly ripe. 



There seem to be two forms of variation, one 

 in the time of attachment and the other in the 

 persistency of attachment. 



This persistency of attachment varies greatly; 

 in some fruit it would be possible by a little work 

 to cut around the stone and in others the flesh is 

 attached so closely that to remove the stone satis- 



