THE BURBAXK CHERRY 129 



So the hiometric computations give fullest 

 support to the practical methods that I have 

 employed for the past fifty years. 



Meantime, the results of these experiments — 

 proving the possibility of segregation and re- 

 assembly of these diverse qualities — give vivid 

 illustrations of the fundamental truth of the 

 theory of unit characters, if these be properly 

 interpreted. 



Gk)OD Feuit from Bad Ancestors 



As a further illustration in point, note this 

 curious circumstance: 



I have in various instances used as a pa- 

 rental stock, for purposes of hybridization, a 

 cherry that produced a totally worthless fruit. 

 The object of this selection was to intro- 

 duce into a developing strain of cherries some 

 good quality — say prolific bearing — that the 

 otherwise worthless cherry exhibited in high 

 degree. 



The immediate progeny of this cross would be 

 of no value as the bad qualities of the worthless 

 cherry were dominant. But among the remoter 

 descendants I have been able to discover indi- 

 viduals that combine the quality of prolific 

 bearing with the good qualities of the other 

 parent stock, and in which the undesirable qual- 



Vol. 2— Bur. E 



