LUTHER BURBANK 



The fruit is sometimes eatable, and sometimes 

 classed as good when grown in the hot, dry cli- 

 mates of the interior valleys of California. Its 

 merits and defects were outlined in an earlier 

 chapter. Here I will only add that it is by no 

 means necessary to have a perfect fruit to begin 

 your experiment. I have in many cases devel- 

 oped the very best of new fruits from two nearly 

 worthless ones. 



In selecting the Simon plum for these experi- 

 ments, its value for plant improvement was con- 

 sidered and not its value as a market plum. 



As a result of its use, its small stone, delight- 

 ful aroma, and desirable tree characters have 

 been imparted to a new race of plums, several of 

 which have already added thousands of crates a 

 year to the shipments of the principal plum grow- 

 ing sections. 



Others even more promising are still in the 

 test orchard awaiting final approval. 



Such, then, are the materials that have been 

 utilized in the development of new fruits in my 

 plum orchard. I have used the native plums of 

 the Middle West, the worthless wild plums of the 

 bleak coast of Labrador, the plums of the Pacific 

 slope; those which our forefathers brought from 

 Europe; a worthless, wild, half-stoneless plum; 

 plums from Japan, some with red flesh; other 



[224] 



