LUTHER BURBANK 



amount of overlapping, or perhaps we had best 

 say interference, of qualities. A plum that is best 

 for one purpose may not be best for another. We 

 must bear in mind the different purposes to which 

 a plum is put, and endeavor to make our plan 

 comprehensive enough to cover all of them. 



There are certain qualities, to be sure, that are 

 desirable in every variety of fruit. Large size, for 

 example, and frost-resisting quality are seldom or 

 never disadvantageous. Yet even this must be 

 qualified, for, in case of a prune, drying becomes 

 more difficult as the fruit enlarges, and unusual 

 size may be a disadvantage. But for plums in 

 general we aim at a tolerably definite combina- 

 tion of qualities size, form, color, flavor and 

 hardiness and endeavor to associate these in the 

 same fruit. 



Taking up our ideal plum tree part by part, 

 let us first consider the root. 



This is of great importance. A great difficulty 

 of the French prune is that its root system is ordi- 

 narily inadequate. It is usually necessary to graft 

 this prune on other roots. Peach stock is some- 

 times used to advantage both for this and for 

 other varieties of plum. But there are some plums 

 that do not graft kindly on the peach, and it is 

 necessary in such cases to make a double graft, 

 using first a cion of some plum that grafts well 



[172J 



