LUTHER BURBAl^K 



peach has been cultivated in so many different 

 regions and for so many different purposes that 

 it is highly variable. Its affinity with other stone 

 fruits has been illustrated over and over in the 

 story of hybridizing experiments already related. 



So it seems at least within the possibilities 

 that a way may be found to combine the stoneless 

 condition which has now been bred into the germ 

 plasm of one member of the stone-fruit family, 

 with the recognized qualities of the peach, in a 

 hybrid — ^produced, no doubt, only after a series 

 of experiments extending over rnany years — that 

 will represent the ideal of a stoneless peach. 



If the qualities of the almond seed were also 

 bred into the combination, the final product — a 

 fruit having the matchless flavor of the peach, a 

 perfectly smooth skin, and a stoneless seed of de- 

 licious edible quality — ^would assuredly be the 

 paragon of orchard fruits. That such a fruit will 

 ultimately be produced there can be little doubt. 

 "When we reflect on the long gap that separates the 

 peach of to-day from its primitive wild ancestor, 

 we need not regard such further development as 

 that just suggested as being very formidable. 



But, of course, there is a time element that can- 

 not be ignored. 



So here, as with other orchard fruits, it is only 

 such experimenters as have the gift of patience 



[174] 



