LUTHER BURBANK 



towered far above the parent Persian walnut, still 

 standing just across the way, and then in its 

 twenty-ninth year. The foliage of the Paradox 

 hybrid resembles in form of leaf that of the Per- 

 sian walnut on a magnified scale ; but the individ- 

 ual leaves are much more numerous on the leaf 

 stalk, showing the influence of the California 

 parent. The bark of the tree is light in color, not 

 dissimilar to that of its European progenitor. 



For a number of years the Paradox was sup- 

 posed to be altogether sterile, and although in sub- 

 sequent years it produced a few nuts which proved 

 to be viable, it never bore more than a very small 

 fraction of the crop that was habitual with its 

 Royal cousin. Seemingly the hereditary gap be- 

 tween the parents was so wide as to carry it al- 

 most to the limits of affinity ; whereas the relation- 

 ship between the two species of black walnut was 

 precisely such as to insure enhanced fecundity. 



Yet in point of individual vigor the Paradox 

 competes on an even footing with the other tree. 

 Indeed, these trees vie with each other, and defy 

 the competition of all other trees in their rapidity 

 of growth, and in the gigantic stature that they 

 attain at a relatively early age. There are sev- 

 eral individual specimens of these interesting hy- 

 brids at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol that are now 

 more than twenty years old. To anyone familiar 

 with the habit of growth of uncrossed walnuts, 

 who observed them without knowing their origin, 

 it would appear that they must be at least three- 

 quarters of a century old. 



[214] 



