BURBANK'S WAY WITH TREES 



different in their specific application, are fur- 

 nished by a long series of experiments made by 

 Mr. Burbank in which the almond tree was one 

 of the parents utilized. Some of these experi- 

 ments consisted of crossing the almond with the 

 Japanese plum; in other cases the strains of the 

 almond were combined with those of the nectarine 

 and the peach. In describing the fruit of this 

 hybrid, Mr. Burbank says that it may be char- 

 acterized as fairly intermediate between the fruits 

 of the parent, yet on the whole the flesh of the 

 peach and the stone of the almond respectively 

 tended to be prepotent or dominant. This is per- 

 haps what would be expected when we recall that 

 the flesh is the specialized modern development 

 in the case of the peach, and that the seed is 

 similarly specialized and developed in the case of 

 the almond. We have seen that there is reason 

 to believe that prepotency or dominance is con- 

 ditioned on newness of development, and the case 

 of the peach-almond hybrid gives a measure of 

 support to this theory. 



In the second generation these hybrids of the 

 peach and almond show an astonishing variation 

 in size, rapidity of growth, and almost every qual- 

 ity of flower and fruit. As to the fruit, some 

 specimens tend to reproduce the almond quality, 

 others the peach quality; yet others combine the 

 quality of the two fruits. The best of these 

 second-generation hybrids bear fruits that are 

 obviously peaches, even peaches of a fair quality, 

 yet have at their center what is at once recog- 



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