LUTHER BURBANK 



them to the factory, where they are fed by ma- 

 chinery into a sheller, which consists of two big 

 cylinders with vulcanized rubber cups on their 

 surfaces, so arranged that the air pressure splits 

 the pods open without crushing them. 



The peas roll down an inclined plane with per- 

 forations of different sizes, and are thus automat- 

 ically sorted into five grades, just as oranges of 

 different sizes are sorted in California. The peas 

 all fall into clean running water and are imme- 

 diately canned without being touched. It may be 

 interesting to add that a factory of this type has a 

 record of putting canned peas on the shelves of 

 the grocer within two hours of the time when they 

 were growing on the vine in the field. 



Peas in cans under these circumstances may be 

 fresher than those purchased in the pod usually 

 are. 



These details as to canning obviously have no 

 direct bearing on the methods of the plant devel- 

 oper. But they explain the specifications that were 

 given along with the order for the new variety. 



In attempting to meet the specifications, I 

 followed the methods of rigid and systematic selec- 

 tion. There was no occasion for cross-fertiliza- 

 tion, as the peas were of superior quality, and 

 showed enough variation as to all of the desired 

 characteristics to offer material for selection. 



[78] 



