PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT-GROWING AND DEVELOPMENT. 101 



fruit as large as the Champion. Other indigenous fruits 

 are as yet neglected, such as the sand-cherry (Primus 

 pumila), the dwarf Juneberry, and possibly the huckle- 

 berry. 



In the mild and relatively equable parts of the earth the 

 orange, lemon, citron, banana, date, fig, guava, loquat, 

 persimmon, and even pineapple, have been developed so 

 far by culture and selection. So far as known no attempt 

 has been made to improve any of them by crossing or 

 hybridizing. Judging by advances made with other fruits 

 it would prove valuable work to cross the Japan persim- 

 mons with our native species, the St. Johns River oranges 

 with the hardy, rather dwarf types of north Japan, the 

 common figs of the South with the best varieties from 

 Smyrna, the common mission date palm of Arizona with 

 the best grown in Algeria. Still other lines of profitable 

 crossing will occur to the mind, especially in Cuba, Porto 

 Rico, and Mexico. 



105. Nearly Allied Crossing. In crossing the orchard 

 fruits the work has not proven as uncertain in results as 

 most persons suspect. The remarkable results achieved 

 by Luther Burbank, of California, have by many been 

 attributed to the favorable climate of the west coast. But 

 a visit to Santa Rosa, in connection with a record of the 

 results attained during the past fifteen years, will show 

 that all the new creations of special value have come from 

 nearly allied crosses that have been duplicated in a small 

 way east of the mountains. As an instance, some of his 

 best results with plums have come from crosses of our 

 native plums with the Japan varieties. America, Gold, 

 Juicy, and other fine varieties, we are told, came from pits 

 of the Robinson pollinated with Japan varieties. In like 

 manner the crosses of Japan pollen on our native varieties 

 have given most promising results in all the States where 



