326 LUTHER BURBANK 



White," but this was very obviously a misnomer 

 as the fruit itself was never white, but of a dull 

 brownish yellow. It has as little pretension to 

 beauty as to size or excellence of flavor, and was 

 introduced simply as a curiosity. 



When a white blackbird appears in a flock, it 

 is usually a pure albino. It may perhaps be re- 

 garded as a pathological specimen, in which, for 

 some unknown reason, the pigment that normally 

 colors the feathers of birds is altogether lacking. 



It is not unlikely that the original so-called 

 white blackberry was also an albino of this 

 pathological type. But if so, hybridization had 

 produced a mongrel race before the plant was 

 discovered by man, or at least before any record 

 was made of its discovery; for, as just noted, the 

 berry introduced by Mr. Lovett could be termed 

 white only by courtesy. 



Nevertheless the berry difi^ered very markedly 

 from the normal blackberry, which, as everyone 

 knows, is of a glossy blackness when ripe. So 

 my interest in the anomalous fruit was at once 

 aroused, and I sent for some specimens for ex- 

 perimental purposes soon after its introduction, 

 believing that it might offer possibilities of im- 

 provement. 



Making use of the principles I have found suc- 

 cessful with other plants, my first thought was to 



