378 LUTHER BURBANK 



much more rapid development, a critical point 

 having been reached by previous generations of 

 culture. 



It is probable that the final development 

 through which the barberry is made to bear a 

 really valuable fruit will come about through 

 hybridizing the familiar species with somewhat 

 different relatives from other lands. 



Material for such hybridizations are now in 

 hand, as I have large quantities of seedlings of 

 six or seven different species. 



Two of these species came from the Patagonia 

 and Chile regions. One is a plant called Herberts 

 buxifolia, and known to the natives as Calafate. 

 Like many of the barberries the plants are quite 

 thorny. The berry is blue-black in color and the 

 natives of Chile use it to make a liquor said not to 

 be unlike gin. 



In addition to this foreigner and a Russian 

 species which produces black fruit, and another 

 producing nearly spherical red fruit, there are 

 several native species that may perhaps be ad- 

 vantageously brought into the cross when the 

 hybridizing experiments are undertaken. 



These include the two western barberries 

 (Berberis re pens and Berberis nervosa) some- 

 times classified as a subgenus called Mahonia, 

 and colloquially sometimes called Oregon grapes, 



