LUTHER BURBANK 



veloped by Mr. Burbank from seed imported from 

 India, and hence named the Himalaya berry. A 

 single plant may produce several hundred pints 

 of berries in a season. But the vine is armed with 

 very stout recurved thorns, making the gathering 

 of the berries a somewhat difficult and decidedly 

 disagreeable task. 



It should be possible by hybridizing this plant 

 with the thornless blackberry to produce in a later 

 generation a plant combining the vigorous growth 

 and prolific bearing of the Himalaya with thorn- 

 lessness. Mr. Burbank has made this cross, and 

 he has also crossed the thornless blackberry with 

 the white blackberry. He has many thousands of 

 seedlings of both type now under test that will 

 give new varieties of thornless berries when fully 

 educated. He has also seedlings from a new 

 cross of the Japanese Balloon-berry and a rasp- 

 berry from Hawaii, and scores of other berry 

 seedlings of new combinations. 



It is not unlikely that in the course of these 

 experiments there will develop berries with quite 

 unpredicted qualities. For Mr. Burbank has 

 shown over and over that where plants from 

 widely separated geographical regions are 

 brought together the offspring are likely to mani- 

 fest extraordinary vigor, and to reveal traits of 

 the most unexpected character. 



The hybrid seedlings of the Balloon-berry and 

 the Hawaiian raspberry grow so rapidly as soon 

 to overshadow their parents. Such enhanced 

 capacity for growth is shown by various of Mr. 



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