LUTHER BURBANK 



tained fully twice as large as the fruit even of the 

 cultivated parent. But most of these had stones, 

 and were, moreover, soft, sour, undesirable fruits. 



All but a few of the more promising grafts were 

 removed from the trees, and the experiment was 

 continued with the selected ones. 



In the next generation there was some general 

 improvement in the growth of the seedlings and 

 the size and quality of the fruit. And in later 

 generations the quality of the fruit rapidly im- 

 proved combined with stonelessness until I 

 obtained two or three fine plums and prunes. 



These were grafted extensively and seedlings 

 raised and selected for still further improvement. 



Some of the earlier results of these experiments 

 were exhibited at the Pan-American Exposition at 

 Buffalo, New York, in 1901, and aroused much 

 interest among fruit growers. None of these, 

 however, was worthy of introduction as a commer- 

 cial fruit. 



The plum called Miracle was the first of the 

 stoneless plums to be introduced. 



This is borne on a rather slow-growing tree and 

 has the size, flavor and appearance of a small 

 Damson, being about an even balance between the 

 French prune and the original sans noyau in most 

 of its characters. Some years it is quite productive, 

 but it is not an altogether dependable bearer. 



[156] 



