LUTHER BURBANK 



It has been suggested that a globular or apple- 

 shaped pear with a short stem would be acceptable 

 to the packers because it would crate more com- 

 pactly and carry better than the ordinary pear. 

 But this would rob the fruit of one of its distinctive 

 characters, so on the whole the change would 

 probably not be an improvement. In the matter 

 of size, also, it would appear that the pear, in its 

 best varieties, has attained a maximum develop- 

 ment. 



To make it much larger would be detrimental, 

 as it would probably be torn from the tree by 

 the wind. Even now some varieties are so large 

 that they break away from the tree before ripen- 

 ing, and so these varieties are avoided. The 

 Beurre Clairgeau, one of the best of pears, is little 

 grown for this very reason. 



But in matter of flavor there is still oppor- 

 tunity for indefinite variation. Some European 

 cultivators have recently produced remarkably 

 pleasing and varied flavors in this fruit. An illus- 

 tration of how the flavor of a fruit may be rad- 

 ically modified is furnished by my Apple Plum, 

 which, while retaining the characteristic attributes 

 of its race, curiously simulates the apple in the 

 matter of form and even in taste and texture. 



Another instance is my Bartlett plum, which 

 out-Bartletts the Bartlett pear in its own peculiar 



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