FOUR BURBANK PRUNES 71 



factorily you must have sharp tools and use them 

 with discretion. 



The old hereditary tendencies make it difficult 

 to change plum and prune heredity so that it will 

 produce freestones instead of clingstones. Never- 

 theless this has been accomplished with several 

 varieties, including the Standard prune. 



Of late the canners have preferred the cling- 

 stone peaches mostly, perhaps because they have 

 a firmer flesh that does not fall to pieces when 

 cooked, as the freestone peaches generally do. 

 The pit is very easily removed with a sharp in- 

 strument made for the purpose. With this 

 exception, fruits are generally more valuable 

 when they are freestone. 



THE CONQUEST A STONELESS PRUNE 



But what if the fruit had no stone at all? 



That would, indeed, be the ideal condition. 

 And this ideal is met in the fourth member of my 

 quartet of best prunes the Conquest. 



This, the newest of my prunes, was first 

 offered in the catalogue of 1911-1912. 



The work of producing the stoneless prune 

 parallels that of the production of the stoneless 

 plum, a preliminary account of which has already 

 been given, and fuller details as to which will 

 appear in the succeeding chapter. Here it is 



