ON ADAPTATION 



On the experiment farm at Santa Rosa, there 

 grow two ordinary looking pear trees which 

 amphfy the thought. 



One of these trees produces large, juicy, soft, 

 aromatic, luscious, easily digested pears — a delight 

 to the eye and to the palate. 



The other produces small, hard, bitter, indi- 

 gestible fruit, the very opposite in every way of 

 our idea of what a pear should be. 



Looking at these trees side by side, it would be 

 difficult to realize that their fruit could be so differ- 

 ent. Both show the unmistakable characteristics 

 of the pear tree — the pear tree shape, the pear tree 

 branches, the pear tree leaves, the pear tree blos- 

 soms. In their fruit alone do they differ. 

 ***** 



Since these two pear trees illustrate an impor- 

 tant point, let us begin at the beginning: 



The pear, it seems, was first discovered in 

 eastern Europe or western Asia. It was there, in 

 Eurasia, some two thousand years ago, that man 

 first realized that this fruit was good to eat. 



Coming to us, thus, out of obscuritj^ the pear, 

 during these twenty centuries, has spread to the 

 east, and to the west, till it has completely encircled 

 the globe — a slow process, but one which takes 

 place in every desirable fruit which is discovered 

 or produced. 



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