LUTHER BURBANK 



It has taken us about twelve years to accom- 

 plish this result. And even now our new fruit 

 must be propagated by grafting and budding, for 

 it cannot be depended upon to breed absolutely 

 true from the seed. 



The recessive factors for size and for color, as 

 we have seen, are in its germ plasm; and these 

 will make themselves manifest in the progeny. 



But so long as we confine ourselves to the 

 method of grafting, we may hold the type of the 

 new variety and spread broadcast our big red 

 cherry with its combination of desirable qualities, 

 with full assurance that, given reasonable condi- 

 tions as to soil and climate, it will reproduce for- 

 ever the qualities of the patrician fruit, the ances- 

 tral history of which we have just traced. 

 INVITING OPPORTUNITIES 



I have thought that by thus tracing in detail 

 the history of a single experiment, paying heed 

 chiefly to a single quality, but reminding the 

 reader from time to time that other qualities can- 

 not be ignored, we could perhaps gain a clearer 

 notion than would otherwise be possible of the 

 practical steps through which a new form of fruit 

 is developed. 



It is through such series of experiments, lead- 

 ing sometimes forward and sometimes backward 

 in successive generations, that the four hundred 



[94] 



