126 LUTHER BURBANK 



ties, both in productiveness and quality, were 

 produced in the second, third, and fourth 

 generations. 



Usually the first-generation hybrid maritimas 

 make a much stronger growth than their wild 

 parents, sometimes attaining four to six feet in 

 two years, while the wild Beach plum on a good 

 soil rarely grows more than three to three and 

 one-half feet high in the same time. 



The wild tree has short branches, black bark, 

 and small leaves. The first generation hybrids of 

 these with the American and Japanese plums 

 have longer, smoother, and larger leaves, lighter 

 colored wood, and longer and more slender 

 branches. 



These hybrid seedlings are easily distinguished 

 the first season, as the Beach plum has red roots, 

 while those of the hybrid vary, most of them 

 being lighter. Beach plum seedlings, no matter 

 how young, from seeds crossed with other varie- 

 ties, show various shades between the pale yellow 

 or brown root of the European and Asiatic varie- 

 ties and the red root of the wildling, and if there 

 were no other test this would be amply sufficient 

 to prove them hybrids. 



Such, then, was the parentage of the Giant 

 Maritima, which first bore fruit, as already noted, 

 in 1905 fruit over two inches in length. When 



