116 LUTHER BURBANK 



on exhibition at its best. We had had a week of 

 cool weather and all the plums had ripened 

 slowly together on the tree ; they had responded 

 to ideal weather and produced a beautiful fruit 

 of superior flavor. But conditions are not al- 

 ways ideal by any manner of means and this 

 plum could not stand adversity. 



The next year the would-be purchaser saw 

 the same tree coming, in fact, for the further 

 observation of it and found the fruit worthless. 

 For three days we had had unusually warm 

 weather, and the fruit lacked quality. My esti- 

 mate of it had been verified. 



This is related to illustrate the need of caution 

 in judging a new fruit. The work is not over 

 when the plum is produced; the fruit must be 

 tested under varying conditions and in successive 

 seasons. 



But, of course, there is no great difficulty id 

 applying the final tests. That requires only 

 patience and open-mindedness. The real diffi- 

 culties were encountered at an earlier stage of 

 the experiment. 



What some of these difficulties are, and how 

 they may be overcome, will be told in the suc- 

 ceeding pages. We have considered the ideal 

 plum somewhat attentively from the standpoint 

 of market man and consumer. Let us now regard 



