376 LUTHER BURBANK 



When I say that this work with the barberry 

 was taken up more than twenty-five years ago, 

 and that I have not as yet produced a variety 

 that seemed worthy of introduction as a fruit 

 producer, it will be understood that this plant is 

 not among those that are specially responsive to 

 the efforts of the plant developer. 



It should be explained, however, that the work 

 with the barberries, although it has involved the 

 growing of thousands of seedlings of various spe- 

 cies, has been carried out mostly along the lines 

 of selection, without the aid of hybridizing. It is 

 almost certain that crossing the different species 

 would have resulted in carrying the work for- 

 ward far more rapidly. But the pressure of 

 other work has kept me from undertaking this, 

 and I have been content to select the best speci- 

 mens of the various species, generation after 

 generation, up to the present time, and thus to 

 advance somewhat slowly, although on the whole 

 rather surely, preparatory to getting improved 

 varieties of each species for crossing. 



The most promising of the barberries from the 

 standpoint of the fruit grower is probably the 

 common species familiar in many regions as a 

 hedge plant and known botanically as Berberis 

 vulgaris. The genus has many other species, 

 however, and the fact that these tend to vary 



