184 LUTHER BURBANK 



And fie saw not merely one other, but a score 

 or two, to his added mystification. 



When the apricot and plum were crossed to 

 produce an intermediate fruit, the accomplish- 

 ment was thought by some botanists to savor of 

 a violation of the laws of nature. 



BREAKING DOWN A BARRIER 



Notwithstanding the general acceptance of 

 the idea of evolution of species, a reminiscence 

 of the old special-creation point of view lingered. 

 Even if existing species have evolved in the past, 

 they were thought to be fixed in the present; or 

 at any rate to be separated by impassable heredi- 

 tary gulfs. 



If, by a rare chance, species did interbreed, it 

 was quite generally supposed that the offspring 

 must necessarily be sterile. 



Therefore, when the statement was made 

 that I had crossed the plum and apricot and 

 produced a healthy and vigorous new fruit, it 

 was met with profound skepticism from most 

 quarters. 



But it was only necessary to bring the skeptics 

 to the trees themselves and introduce them 

 to the new fruit to convince them that what 

 they considered impossible had really been 

 accomplished. The plum-apricot hybrid attests 



