LUTHER BURBANK 



The change from stone to stoneless fruit will 

 come about by imperceptible steps. The change 

 will be so slow as hardly to be noticeable. Poorer 

 varieties of all fruits are gradually replaced by 

 the better; so gradually that the change is scarce- 

 ly noticed. 



Odd forms are constantly coming up in nature 

 like the little, deformed bullace that was the 

 parent of the new stoneless plums. Sometimes 

 their inherent prospective value is recognized 

 oftener not. A hornless animal appeared as a 

 sport or sudden variation in Argentina half a 

 century or so ago. Possibly this freak may have 

 appeared a hundred times before. But in this in- 

 stance someone having imagination noticed the 

 mutant and fostered it, and we now have hornless 

 stock from that Argentine variation, not only of 

 the original but of nearly all breeds. 



Among fruits, changes no less marked are con- 

 stantly arising, and as time goes on these will be 

 more and more recognized, and appreciated and 

 used. As a greater knowledge of plant improve- 

 ment is becoming disseminated, more pronounced 

 changes for the better will be made the elimina- 

 tion of stones and seeds being one of the most 

 important of the many improvements required. 



The appearance of the stoneless plum, not as a 

 chance sport but as the product of an arduous 



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