LUTHER BURBANK 



I speak thus of the fuzz of the peach as being 

 superfluous, but on second thought we cannot be 

 too sure that it really serves the fruit no useful 

 function. 



Indeed, the inference should be rather the other 

 way. 



At least we may feel sure that unless the woolly 

 coating at some time served a very important 

 purpose, it would never have been developed; or, 

 having been developed, it would not have been 

 retained. 



That is assuming, however, that the peach de- 

 veloped this unusual fruit covering in a state of 

 nature, and without the aid of man's selective in- 

 fluence, which it certainly did. 



How THE PEACH GOT ITS COAT 



If it could be shown that the fuzz was devel- 

 oped only after the peach came under cultivation, 

 and in response to man's wishes, the case would 

 be altered. In that event it might readily be that 

 the fuzzy covering, appearing first as an acci- 

 dental "sport," had been retained because it 

 pleased the fancy of some plant experimenter, or 

 met the taste of some influential market man- 

 say of Athens in the olden days, or of Rome in 

 the time of its power. 



But in all probability the peach had its fuzzy 

 coat at a time vastly more remote than this. It is 



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