M LUTHER BURBANK 



These ffttt^growing detoendants of the New 

 Zealand plant had not only the desirable qua): 

 ties of texttire and flaror of leafstalk alread> 

 referred to, but they retained and advanced upon 

 the tendency' of their ancestors to grow con 

 itantly throughout the year. This anomalous 

 t ndeney» rather than the improvement in tlx 

 other qualities of the plant, is obviously the onv 

 that requires explanation. Remarkable ini 

 provement in sixe and in other desired qualitie 

 through selection, is a more or less familiar 

 method of plant development 



,< llxat 



But the production of a race o. j 

 departs radically from the most pron 

 tharacteristic trait of the rhubarb family, namel 

 brief period of bearing, is something that re- 

 quires explanation. 



A clue to the explanation is found when we 

 recall that the plants were sent me from a rci/i m 

 lying on the other side of the equator. The 

 plants were exceptional even there in that th( 

 had shown a tendency' to bear — that is to say t 

 produce small juic>' leafstalks — during the col. 

 season. Through some unexplained freak of 

 heredity or unheralded selective breeding thev 

 had developed a character that had enabled tbetu 

 to put forth their leaves much earlier tlum is 

 customary with all other races of rhubarb. 



