LITTHER BURBANK 



some definite experiments in hybridizing. I first 

 selected for the experiment the white nectarine 

 and the Muir peach. In 1895 numerous crosses 

 were made, using principally the white nectarine 

 pollen to fertilize the blossoms of the Muir peach, 

 a very hardy, vigorous, abundantly productive 

 variety of the peach that is largely cultivated in 

 California. 



The white nectarine has a rich flavor, but it is 

 too acid to eat without cooking. It is of largg 

 size, has a large stone, and white flesh, with per- 

 fectly smooth white skin. The Muir peach, on the 

 other hand, is very sweet, with firm yellow flesh, 

 and an unusually small, free stone. A tree of this 

 variety is unusually hardy, long-lived, and im- 

 mune from that pest of the peach orchard, curl- 

 leaf. It may be grown in a large variety of soils 

 in locations where other peaches and nectarines 

 often fail. 



The offspring of this union of nectarine and 

 peach in due course came to fruiting age, and in 

 some cases the fruit they bore was found to be of 

 a quality superior to that of any peach or necta- 

 rine at that time ever seen. In the second and 

 third generation there appeared a varied com- 

 pany, showing remarkable new combinations of 

 qualities, and anomalies of form, size, color and 

 flavor. 



[154] 



