LUTHER BURBANK 



was a very curious one to all intents and pur- 

 poses a smooth-skinned peach, with white flesh, 

 bearing at its core an almond nut. 



Further experiments in selective breeding will 

 be necessary to develop the hybrid to a stage at 

 which its qualities of flesh and nut respectively 

 will give it commercial importance; but the foun- 

 dation for such development is supplied in the 

 hybrid already secured. This hybrid, it may be 

 noted incidentally, is a most remarkably vigorous 

 grower. 



An allied series of experiments of equal inter- 

 est was inaugurated by hybridizing the Languedoc 

 almond and the Muir peach, using, as in the other 

 case, the utmost precaution to prevent foreign 

 pollenization. 



Many seedlings were grown from this cross and 

 a large number of them have been under observa- 

 tion for years. 



The most notable thing about these hybrid seed- 

 lings from the outset was the tendency of many 

 of them to take on rapid growth. Some of them 

 grow five or ten times as fast as the average seed- 

 lings of either parent. This propensity of hybrids 

 to rapid growth is something that we have seen 

 manifested in many other cases. It is, indeed, a 

 rather common result when species that vary by 

 just the right amount are hybridized. The hybrid 



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