THE PLUMCOT 183 



fast lines between the different species as com- 

 monly classified. 



This belief has undergone a radical change in 

 recent years, and the many combinations of 

 widely different species made on my Sebastopol 

 farm have had at least a share in broadening and 

 clarifying the views of the classifiers. 



"Well, what kind of a tree do you think this 

 is?" I asked a. moment later. 



"Why, a plum, to be sure." 



"Please examine more closely, professor," I 

 requested. "This leaf looks to me more like an 

 apricot than like a plum!" 



"Yes yes. I see now it is; it is surely an 

 apricot the leaf, though differing from most of 

 the apricots, is certainly an apricot leaf." 



"Now look again, carefully look ai the 

 foliage, bark, branches; and now let us examine 

 the fruit. Then tell me what you really think 

 it is." 



After a long and thorough examination, I 

 heard the reluctant decision: "Well, it surely is 

 what you claim it to be a cross between the 

 plum and the apricot. I never thought it could 

 be made." 



I told him I had hundreds of others bearing 

 fruit of different sizes, shapes, and qualities. 



"Show me another quick! quick!" 



