'^ BURBANK'S WORK 211 



I take pleasure in sending you by this mail a sample of 

 my new "Standard" prune, just as we dry them in the 

 sun, without any processing of any kind except to split 

 the fruit and shake out the wholly freestone seed. 



This, like all California fruit, should be quickly rinsed 

 in cold water, then allowed to stand in cold water at 

 least twelve hours in just enough water to cover them, 

 then heated to nearly the boiling point for an hour or 

 so, but never boiled. All dried fruit of every nature 

 should receive this treatment to obtain the best 

 flavor. 



The flesh and flavor of many other fruits — 

 peaches, apples, cherries, apricots, quinces, pa- 

 paws — have been improved in Burbank's gar- 

 dens. Of particular interest and practical value 

 are his quinces and papaws. For thousands of 

 years the quince had been neglected and it was 

 still half wild when he undertook to educate it. 

 His improved Van Deman quince received the 

 Wilder Medal of the American Pomological 

 Society in Washington as long ago as 1891. In 

 California this profitable new variety sometimes 

 yields three crops in one season. More recently 

 he has created a better variety still, the Pine- 

 apple quince, which can be eaten out of hand, 

 like an apple — fulfilling, at last, the desire of all 

 lovers of this richly flavored fruit. Then came 

 the "Burbank" quince, which adds to the 

 merits of its predecessors the absence of wool. 

 He has grown bushlike quince trees scarcely 

 waist high, yet almost breaking under the 

 weight of the fruit I To the papaw, which, 



