STONELESS PRUNES 85 



or America, or from a blending of these 

 strains. 



But each and every one of them will have the 

 little sans noyau for one of its ancestors, and will 

 owe to that plebeian ancestor the quality of stone- 

 lessness which will be regarded as one of its best 

 prized characteristics. 



A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE 



In this view, then, the stoneless plum may be 

 considered perhaps the most interesting of 

 fruits. 



Possibly a future even more important than 

 that just suggested may be in wait for it. It is at 

 least within the possibilities, as hinted in our dis- 

 cussion of the peach, that the quality of stone- 

 lessness may be extended from the plums to the 

 allied tribes of stone fruits by hybridization. 



Conceivably the descendants of the little bul- 

 lace may include not only the races of cultivated 

 plums, but even all races of apricots, peaches, 

 and plumcots and cherries as well. 



But even though the view be confined to much 

 narrower limits, it still remains true that the 

 stoneless plum is among the most important of 

 all plant developments. So it may be worth 

 while even at the risk of a certain amount of 

 repetition to review the history of this develop- 



