84 LUTHER BURBANK 



For without the aid of this apparently mal- 

 formed variety, the plant developer would have 

 had no leverage with which to attack the problem 

 of relieving the great family of stone fruits of 

 their now useless and even obnoxious seed 

 covering. 



The malformation of the little bullace, through 

 which it lost its seed protector, would doubtless 

 have resulted under conditions of natural selec- 

 tion in exterminating the species. 



But the same transformation which would 

 thus have worked destruction in a state of nature, 

 sufficed to make sure that, under the changed 

 conditions of artificial selection, this particular 

 plum should become the progenitor of all the 

 plums of the future. 



For we can little doubt, now that the stone has 

 been taken from a few varieties of cultivated 

 plums and prunes, that all other varieties will 

 ultimately be brought into the stoneless coalition. 

 And the only feasible way to bring this about 

 will be to interbreed one variety after another 

 with the descendants of the little stoneless 

 bullace. 



The plums of the future will be diversified in 

 form and size and quality. 



They will draw their chief ancestral traits 

 from the plums of Japan or China or Europe 



