52 LUTHKR BITIBAXK 



the most part never give it a thought. But a 

 momeDt'ft reflection makes it clear that the plum 

 fUme serves man no useful purpose, while the 

 inoonvenienoe it gives us is olmous. 



It requires no argument to diow that a 

 solid fruit without a stone would be far more 

 acceptable. 



But this is not the only reason, althou :!i per- 

 haps a sufficient one, for the devdopment of the 

 i to ne tess fruit The other reason looks to econ- 

 omy of production and saving of material from 

 the standpoint of the tree itself. It has been 

 estimated that a tree requires several times :i 

 much solid material and the expenditure of far 

 more energy to produce the stony covering of tiie 

 fruit seed than to grow the flesh of the fruit itself 



So it might well be expected that other things 

 being equal, a tree bearing stoneless fruit would 

 prove at least twice as productive as one bearinir 

 stone fruit. 



Under the conditions of nature, this increaseH 

 fniitage would by no means compensate for the 

 loss of the protective stony covering, for the seed 

 improtected by its coat of mail would be at the 

 mercy of any bird or animal or insect that at- 

 tacked it. 



There would probably be no representative nf 

 the stone fruit family in existence to-day were it 



