LUTHER BURBANK 



only within the comparatively recent period since 

 the plum was under cultivation that the develop- 

 ment of a race of sweet plums, which we now term 

 prunes, has taken place. 



JUST THE RIGHT SKIN-TEXTURE 



As to the other characteristic prune trait, that 

 of developing a skin of such texture that it will 

 crack in precisely the right way when put into the 

 alkali bath, this may fairly be assumed to be an 

 even more recent acquisition. 



Yet here, again, we may assume that there were 

 ancestors of the plum that developed character- 

 istics of skin of which this is a reminiscence. And 

 it is not very difficult to conceive how this may 

 have come about. 



The wild plum quite commonly grows along the 

 water courses and by lakesides. It may chance 

 that plums growing along the shores of the Medit- 

 erranean, or perhaps by some inland body of salt 

 water like the Dead Sea, were covered on occasion 

 with salt spray from dashing waves or saturated 

 with the brine when they fell to the earth. 



In such case, varieties that chanced to endure 

 this treatment best would be the ones preserved, 

 and in due course a race of plums having the right 

 texture of skin to stand this treatment would be 

 developed. 



This particular quality of skin would doubtless 



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