LUTHER BURBANK 



The European tree had been introduced in 

 California a number of years before the time of 

 my experiments, and it thrives in our climate and 

 produces abundant fruitage. I had heard of a 

 supposed natural European hybrid walnut, and I 

 determined to make the experiment of fertilizing 

 the flowers of the California species with pollen 

 from the Persian. 



The experiment itself presented no particular 

 difficulties and the results were of a striking 

 character. 



The nuts that grew from the hybridized 

 flowers were to all appearance unchanged. This, 

 of course, is quite what might have been expected, 

 for the influence of foreign pollen on the ovum 

 of a plant manifests itself in the innate qualities 

 of the seed, and not in the exterior qualities of 

 the fruit immediately produced. But when the 

 hybrid nuts were planted the following season, 

 a part of the seedlings that sprang from them 

 showed at once the effects of the intermingling of 

 racial strains. 



As compared with seedlings of either the 

 California or the Persian walnut, they manifested 

 an enormously enhanced capacity for growth. 

 Indeed they sprang forward at such a rate as 

 presently to dwarf their pure breed relatives. 



The phenomenal growth of these hybrid trees 



[138] 



