MAKING NEW KINDS OF PLANTS 



415 



produce abundantly where Plum culture has hitherto 

 been impossible. 



An interesting departure has been made by crossing 

 Plums with other fruits. A cross between the Plum 

 and an evergreen Cherry has been made which 

 promises most striking results. A still more re- 

 markable cross is between the Plum and the Apricot, 

 which Mr. Burbank succeeded in making, after making 

 many trials, and which he has called the 

 Plumcot (Fig. 235). This resembles an 

 apricot but is more highly colored, with 

 very fine silky down: the pit some- 

 times resembles that of a plum, some- 

 times that of an apricot: the leaf is 235 T he pimneot, a 

 intermediate between the leaves of the pium aiuTthe 1 Apri e 



cot. One - half nat- 



parents. The flavors are unique and ural stze - 

 varied and, taken all together, it is a most remark- 

 able and delicious fruit. 



Not content with these achievements, he conceived 

 the idea of producing a Stoneless Plum and Prune. 

 Beginning with a small, unproductive variety, with 

 fruit no larger than a cherry, but with a stone which 

 only partially covered the kernel, he crossed it care- 

 fully with the French Prune and selected the progeny 

 until a variety of new Plums were obtained, all of 

 good size, good flavors and fine appearance, and 

 all destitute of stones. In the center is no stone, 

 but in its place a cavity within which lies a more 



