LUTHER BURBANK 



In point of fact, inspection of the hybrid 

 Primus berry shows that each parent strove to 

 transmit its own peculiarity as regards this mat- 

 ter of the receptacle. The result is that the Pri- 

 mus berry, if plucked just at the moment when it 

 is approaching maturity, acts like a blackberry, 

 bringing away the receptacle as part of the fruit. 

 But if the fruit is left on the vine until a little 

 past the moment of maturity, it shows the prop- 

 erty of the raspberry, leaving the receptacle on 

 the vine, and coming away as a cup-shaped fruit. 

 Here, then, there is a compromise in which it 

 may be said that each line of ancestral tendencies 

 makes its influence felt. 



In general, it may be said that this case is 

 typical. As a rule, the different traits of plants 

 or animals that can be interbred are not so widely 

 divergent as to be absolutely antagonistic, and 

 the offspring is likely to show a blending of the 

 traits. There are numerous cases, however, in 

 which a compromise is not so readily effected, 

 and in which one trait or the other seems for the 

 moment to be predominant. 



As an illustration of this, take the case of Mr. 

 Burbank's white blackberry. If this is crossed 

 with a black blackberry, the hybrid bush will bear 

 only black berries; the tendency of the white 

 blackberry to reproduce itself seems entirely sub- 

 ordinated. 



But, although for the moment subordinated, 

 the tendency to produce white berries is not lost 

 from the germ-plasm of the hybrid. The proof 



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