LUTHER BURBANK 



and accentuating the tendency to stonelessness. 

 This proved exceedingly difficult. But by per- 

 severing through a long series of generations, sav- 

 ing always for seed purposes the seedlings that 

 showed most improvement, and grafting them in 

 the way above described to hasten their develop- 

 ment, Mr. Burbank finally succeeded in producing 

 not merely one variety, but several varieties of 

 plums and prunes of large size and of excellent 

 quality that are almost absolutely stoneless, re- 

 taining at most a tiny fragment of shell at one 

 end of the seed. Some varieties have shown a 

 marked tendency to eliminate the seed itself as 

 well. 



The contrast between the cranberry-sized par- 

 tially stoneless French plum, with its inedible 

 flesh, and the mammoth stoneless plum of delicious 

 quality that is descended from it is very striking. 



SUGGESTIONS FOB THE AMATEUR 



The development of such a fruit required years 

 of time and an almost inexhaustible supply of 

 energy and patience. But the principles involved, 

 from first to last, were merely those that have 

 been outlined above. Hybridization and selection 

 these are the methods of the fruit developer as 

 perfected by Mr. Burbank. Intelligently inter- 

 preted and systematically followed up, they make 

 possible almost any desired transformation in 

 plant life. 



jLet this not be misunderstood, Selection of 

 [74] 



