LUTHER BURBANK 



about three weeks earlier than any variety 

 hitherto grown in California. This result was 

 achieved by persistent selection, generation after 

 generation, of specimens that manifested the 

 early-fruiting propensity. But the full bearing of 

 the story cannot be understood unless attention is 

 given to the almost numberless complications that 

 were involved. 



Seeking Many Ends at Once 



Had the only object sought been the produc- 

 tion of a cherry that ripened very early, it would 

 not have been very difficult to attain success. 



In that case all other qualities could have been 

 disregarded, and attention given solely and exclu- 

 sively to the question of time of fruitage. The 

 cherries that ripen earliest each season being 

 selected, I should presently have produced a race 

 of early bearers, beyond peradventure. Selection 

 carried through a comparatively small number of 

 generations would have sufficed to give me what I 

 sought. 



But a moment's reflection makes it clear that 

 there would be no commercial value in a cherry 

 that ripened earlier than its fellows, unless this 

 cherry combined with the quality of early 

 ripening other qualities of size and abundance and 

 fitness for shipping, that give the cherry its value 

 as a market fruit. It is obvious that in selecting 



[212] 



