LUTHER BURBANK 



from some of these crosses, a smooth-skinned 

 peach that bears an edible almond seed at its 

 heart, to name a single example. Crosses between 

 different varieties within a species have been 

 made by thousands, producing hundreds of new 

 varieties of plums, prunes, peaches, apples, pears, 

 cherries, and quinces. Stoneless plums and 

 prunes ; plums that look like apples and taste like 

 them; gigantic red-cheeked pears; cherries for 

 canning that leave the stone on the tree when you 

 pick them; colossal, savory quinces, borne on 

 mere bushes these are some of the results, named 

 almost at random. Hybridizing experiments that 

 hold out such possibilities are worth trying. We 

 shall see how to go about them in a moment. 



Another fundamental method, supplementing 

 the method of hybridization, is that of selection 

 among varying individuals of the same species 

 or variety. No two individuals are just alike, 

 from which it follows that in a given company of 

 plants of the same kind there are various grada- 

 tions as to size and shape of leaf, form and color 

 of flower, or flavor of fruit ; and, as regards each 

 varying quality, there must obviously be one in- 

 dividual, if you will carefully search it out, that 

 exhibits this quality most markedly. Or there 

 may be an individual that shows just a trace of 

 a new quality say a unique flavor or color. 



This is the individual to select for further 

 breeding experiments, in expectation of accentu- 

 ating the quality in question. 



For instance, Mr. Burbank found a cherry that 

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