ON THE PRUNE 



generations since plums were brought under 

 cultivation. 



The quality of producing sufficient sugar in the 

 right form for drying may have been developed 

 during perhaps the last twenty-five generations; 

 but it has been brought to its present high percent- 

 age during the most recent half dozen generations. 



The condition of the skin which allows it to 

 crack in just the right way has without doubt been 

 cultivated for only a few generations. 



But on the other hand the fairly edible flesh, 

 not having a high sugar content, has been the heri- 

 tage of the plum for thousands of generations. 



So we can readily understand that the plant 

 developer may secure among many thousands of 

 seedlings, nearly all of them producing plums of 

 fair quality, perhaps only one or two that show 

 the qualities that specifically characterize the 

 prune even in a minimum degree. 



The progenitors of the seedlings may have been 

 prunes of fair quality; but the seedlings themselves 

 have gone back to the blanket stage of plum 

 development. 



The chances against securing even a single 

 fruit that combines all the desired qualities among 

 any given lot of seedlings are so small as to be 

 almost disheartening. 



Indeed when the plant developer brings 



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