BURBANK IN THE ORCHARD 



tended to fruit early: its descendant is the Early 

 Burbank, which ripens three weeks before any 

 other cherry. He found a hybrid prune that was 

 a trifle sweeter than its fellows : its descendant is 

 the Burbank sugar prune, with its twenty-three 

 per cent sugar content. He found a quince with 

 slightly modified texture and flavor: its descend- 

 ant is the pineapple quince, gigantic in size, good 

 to eat raw like an apple, and with the flavor of 

 a pineapple. Any quality that can be detected at 

 all can almost surely be accentuated by selective 

 breeding. 



SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 



In experimenting with a plant, Mr. Burbank 

 has, of course, a clear idea of the modification he 

 wishes to produce. As a rule, a number of quali- 

 ties often a dozen or more are under considera- 

 tion at the same time. 



If the fruit is a cherry, for example, it will 

 perhaps be desirable to enlarge the fruit, make it 

 sweeter, redder, and juicier; improve its keeping 

 quality; decrease the size of the stone, and 

 shorten the stem; while at the same time making 

 the tree a hardy, regular, and prolific bearer, with 

 the fixed habit of ripening its fruit very early in 

 the season. 



To get such a combination, the right heredities 

 must be blended, as a matter of course. But there 

 will be extraordinary diversities in the same fra- 

 ternity; and the chance of securing a plant that 

 shows any given combination of qualities in super- 



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