102 LUTHER BURBANK 



Slender branches can never be correlative with 

 large fruit they have not requisite strength. 



That is one of the many reasons why I select 

 seedlings with large branches, and those having 

 prominent buds and large, thick leaves. These 

 are all indications of a bearer of large fruit. 



Large branches and large fruit are associated 

 together through the effect of past heredity; just 

 as, contrariwise, small fruit and small leaves and 

 branches are the hereditary traits that are simi- 

 larly associated with small fruit. 



Of course, it is not always possible, in the 

 present stage of orchard development, to secure 

 a tree of perfect growth and form. 



This is true not alone of plums but of other 

 orchard fruits. Some of our best varieties of or- 

 chard trees, like the Bartlett pear, have branches 

 too slender and upright, and do not carry the 

 fruit well. The Bellflower, though a fine apple, 

 makes a weeping growth. The Newtown pippin 

 makes too slender and upright a growth. On the 

 ether hand, the Gravenstein apple makes a very 

 fine, spreading tree, and the popularity of this 

 variety may be to some extent associated with 

 the almost perfect form of the tree itself. 



But it is one thing to observe that a tree is 

 imperfect, and quite another thing to take the 

 trouble to improve it. 



