THE BREEDING OF MEN 



combined the racial strains of practically all 

 known species of plums under cultivation. 



More than that, he crossed the plum with the 

 apricot, producing thereby his wonderful new 

 fruit, the plumcot. 



So striking have been the results of this mat- 

 ing of plums of diversified characteristics that 

 more than sixty new varieties of plums, prunes, 

 and apricots have been introduced by Mr. Bur- 

 bank, constituting an extraordinary company of 

 fruits that are revolutionizing the plum-growing 

 and prune-growing industries all over the world. 

 One-third of all the plums shipped from Califor- 

 nia are now Burbank plums, and the best of his 

 new varieties are of such recent introduction that 

 they have not as yet made their influence felt, as 

 they must inevitably do in the course of the com- 

 ing decade. 



Other illustrations of hybridizing experiments 

 through which Mr. Burbank has produced remark- 

 able results to mention a few almost at random 

 are given by his hybrid races of blackberries 

 and raspberries, including the Primus berry, the 

 Phenomenal berry, the white blackberry, and the 

 thornless blackberries; the Paradox and Royal 

 walnuts, combining the traits of Persian walnut 

 with those of the California black walnut in one 

 case, and of the eastern species of black walnut 

 with the Calif ornian in the other; and in the 

 Shasta daisy, which combines the characteristics 

 of three species originally inhabiting Europe, 

 America, and Japan, respectively. 



[247] 



