248 LUTHER BURBANK 



degenerate creatures is corroborative. It ap- 

 peared, however, that there were elements in the 

 two types of germ plasm that if combined in just 

 the right way would produce a virile offspring. 



By chance the right combination was effected, 

 and the Primus berry was the result. 



The berry itself has not proved a great com- 

 mercial success, but that is a matter of small 

 importance. The real importance of the experi- 

 ment was in what it proved as to the possibility 

 of the production of new species through hybrid- 

 ization. This was, in short, one of the first in- 

 stances to come under my observation of the 

 production of a hybrid that blends the character- 

 istics of the parents, producing a new type and 

 breeding true to that type. 



To my mind and I think the facts are con- 

 vincing to any unprejudiced mind this and 

 many similar experiments that have been suc- 

 cessfully accomplished demonstrates beyond dis- 

 pute that hybridization is one of nature's 

 methods of creating new species. 



As this subject has been dwelt upon at length 

 in earlier chapters, I revert to it here because of 

 the importance of the subject itself, and also 

 because the Primus berry furnishes us a new 

 and striking illustration of the truth of the 

 principle. 



