ON THE APRICOT AND THE LOQUAT 



It combines the qualities of the plum and the 

 apricot, but in itself it is neither plum nor apricot. 



So while the plumcot has exceptional qualities 

 of its own, it does not solve the particular problem 

 with which we are at the moment concerned. We 

 are seeking, not a new fruit, but an apricot having 

 a particular quality that the present apricot lacks. 



And the question of the moment is whether 

 there is a probability that after blending the strains 

 of the Japanese plum with its hardy blossoms and 

 the apricot with its peculiar qualities of fruit, it 

 may be possible in subsequent generations to re- 

 assemble the qualities in such a way that we would 

 have an apricot retaining the fruit qualities of its 

 apricot ancestor, but combining with them the 

 hardiness of blossom of its plum ancestor. 



Were the plum and the apricot a little less dis- 

 tantly related the question would admit of a ready 

 answer. 



It would then be almost certain that we could, 

 by a series of selective breedings, produce the de- 

 sired combination from union of the materials at 

 hand. But the plum and the apricot, as the quali- 

 ties of the hybrid plumcot show, lie so far apart 

 that their progeny tends to reveal a blending of 

 characters rather than a segregation of unit char- 

 acters. So it is somewhat less certain than it 

 otherwise would be that the unit characters of the 



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