LUTHER BURBANK 



primeval forms, giving the pear a texture different 

 from that of any other fruit. 



This unusual habit of depositing wood cells in 

 the fruits, aside from the seed case itself, is no 

 longer of use to the cultivated pear; but the fact 

 that it tends to be retained shows how important a 

 part it bore in the struggle for existence of the 

 pear's remote ancestors. 



But let us put aside theories as to the remote 

 history of the pear and consider the fruit in its 

 modern relations. 



The significant thing to bear in mind is that 

 in our day the pear is represented by two races, 

 obviously related, yet quite as obviously long sep- 

 arated, one of them finding its home in Europe 

 and (since the Discovery) in America and the 

 other being indigenous to eastern Asia, the two 

 having thus migrated in opposite directions, 

 circling the earth, and finally meeting on the 

 Pacific Coast of America. 



And the fact that these two races of pears have 

 thus diverged, yet still retain the capacity to hy- 

 bridize, is an all-important one from the stand- 

 point of the fruit developer. 



This fact is, indeed, the basis of the newest 

 progress in the development of the pear, and it 

 gives the augury of still more important develop- 

 ments probably to take place in the near future. 



[112] 



