LUTHER BURBANK 



bearing fruits nearly an inch in diameter, of a 

 pleasing form and color, of delicious flavor. The 

 trees, moreover, had almost incredible produc- 

 tiveness together with increased size and vigor. 



Although my most enthusiastic friends often 

 laughed at these extensive experiments with what 

 they called my "huckleberry plum," and some of 

 the best fruitgrowers made sport of the insignifi- 

 cant fruit, I saw in the little Beach plum great 

 hardiness, late blooming, enormous productive- 

 ness, and the ability to withstand adverse condi- 

 tions, and was sure of some measure of success. 



Several crosses were finally made between the 

 improved Maritima and the best cultivated varie- 

 ties of other American plums. No really good 

 fruits were obtained in the first generation, but 

 some excellent varieties, both in productiveness 

 and quality, were produced in the second, third, 

 and fourth generations. 



Some of the first-generation hybrid Maritimas 

 make a much stronger growth than their wild 

 parents, sometimes attaining four to six feet in 

 two years, while the wild Beach plum on a good 

 soil rarely grows more than three to three and 

 one-half feet high in the same time. 



The wild tree has short limbs, black bark, and 

 small leaves. The first generation hybrids of 

 these with the American and Japanese plums have 



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