244 LUTHER BURBANK 



A NEW SPECIES THE PRIMUS BERRY 



All the raspberries commonly known to the 

 cultivator, and many new ones that I imported 

 from Asia and the Southern Hemisphere, were 

 growing on my grounds from 1890 to 1900, and 

 were intercrossed very extensively. Numbers of 

 highly interesting hybrids were thus produced, 

 and at least one of these was of so distinctive a 

 character as to merit the title of a new species. 



This was the fruit that was introduced as the 

 Primus berry. 



This highly interesting fruit, probably the first 

 plant of any kind that could properly be termed 

 a new species to be developed under the direct 

 guidance of the hand of the experimenter, was 

 the progeny of a hardy little berry indigenous 

 to Siberia and Russia, called the Siberian rasp- 

 berry (Rubus cratcegifolius) , and the California 

 dewberry. 



The little hardy Northern raspberry bore fruit 

 about the size of a pea, of a dark mulberry color, 

 with rather large seeds, and a flavor not such as 

 particularly to commend it. It is, however, re- 

 markable for its large palmate leaves, and the 

 sturdy growth of its stems. 



The California dewberry, Rubus vitifolius> is 

 a trailing vine which is extremely variable in fo- 



