LUTHER BURBANK 



parents, producing a new type and breeding true 

 to that type. 



To my mind — and I think the facts are con- 

 vincing to any unprejudiced mind — this and many 

 similar experiments that have been successfully 

 accomplished demonstrates beyond dispute that 

 hybridization is one of nature's methods of cre- 

 ating new species. 



I have dwelt at length on this subject in ear- 

 lier chapters. I revert to it here because of the 

 importance of the subject itself, and also because 

 the Primus berry furnishes us a new and striking 

 illustration of the truth of the principle. 



Of course the Primus berry was produced by 

 artificial poUenizing of the plants that were so 

 located geographically that they would have had 

 no chance to hybridize unless brought together 

 by man. But my observations show that natural 

 hybrids are not at all unusual among wild mem- 

 bers of this family. I have met with them often 

 where two or three closely related species were 

 growing side by side. 



Near Lake Sycamour, for example, at Alberta, 

 Canada, I have observed two common raspber- 

 ries, Riibus leucodermiis, a red raspberry, and 

 Rubus strigosus, a black-cap, growing in close 

 proximity around the hillsides and along the 

 streams. 



[58] 



