LUTHER BURBANK 



Plant building is architecture but architecture 

 with limitations. It is always slow and very often 

 it is extremely disappointing, yet it has its encour- 

 aging surprises as well. Times without number 

 I have been ready to give up an attempt to secure 

 an improvement on which I had worked unsuc- 

 cessfully for years, when, just as my patience was 

 at the breaking point, Nature would seem to have 

 a generous mood and, as it were, throw the 

 desired characteristic into my lap. 



What the blue print means to the architect, the 

 conception of the tree or fruit or flower wanted 

 should mean to the plant improver. It represents 

 a precise ideal toward which to work, and it gives 

 standards of comparison by which progress may 

 be checked as the work progresses. 



In the case of the plum, it is possible to present 

 the ideal to the mind with great accuracy. Of 

 course it may not be possible to attain results 

 strictly in accordance with the plan. But usually 

 the ideal may be at least approximated if it has 

 been intelligently conceived, and if it is persistently 

 borne in mind. 



SPECIFICATIONS FOR AN IDEAL PLUM 



Let us now note specifically and in sequence 

 some of the practical points to be considered in 

 planning our ideal plum. 



In so doing we shall find that there is a certain 



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