LUTHER BURBANK 



It has been suggested that all trees that repre- 

 sent a particular variety of cultivated fruit — say 

 all Baldwin apple trees or all Seckel pears — are 

 separated parts of the original tree of correspond- 

 ing variety, and not descendants of that tree. 



Holding to this point of view, then, it is clear 

 that the different "varieties" of apples might, from 

 a biological standpoint, be classified as individuals 

 rather than as races. 



Their inability to reproduce themselves in off- 

 spring through the ordinary processes of genera- 

 tion denies them the rank of races or varieties 

 proper, let alone the rank of species. 



And after all the difference in appearance be- 

 tween two apples that rank in the catalogs as 

 specific varieties is not greater than we sometimes 

 see manifested between brothers and sisters of a 

 human family. A man more than six feet tall 

 with florid complexion, light blue eyes, and flaxen 

 hair, certainly represents a type quite different 

 from that represented by a woman less than five 

 feet tall with swarthy complexion and black eyes 

 and hair. Yet we sometimes see such divergences 

 as these between a son and daughter of the same 

 parents. 



Origin of the Diversified Types 



We shall gain a somewhat truer conception of 

 the meaning of our apple catalog, then, if we 



[180] 



