LUTHER BURBANK 



age — these are qualities in addition to the funda- 

 mental ones of hardiness and resistance to disease 

 that must be taken into account in estimating the 

 value of a rose. Then there is one other character- 

 istic of the rose which has hitherto scarcely been 

 considered by anyone, yet which seemingly lies 

 within the possibility of development. This is the 

 matter of increasing the amount of pulp that 

 encases the seed pod of the rose. So much atten- 

 tion has been given to the flower that no one has 

 given heed to the fruit. But it is familiarly known 

 that the rose belongs to the same natural order 

 with the apple, the pear, and our other chief fruit 

 growers of the orchard. So it is a reasonable as- 

 sumption that this plant could be educated, were 

 sufficient attention paid to the matter, to produce 

 an edible fruit. 



Even as the case stands, the fruit of some of 

 the wild roses is sometimes eaten by children, 

 though its proportion of pulp to seed is so small 

 as to be almost negligible. And what has been 

 accomplished with other members of the tribe 

 makes it seem probable that the pulp could be 

 developed and the seed correspondingly decreased 

 until the fruit became quite transformed. 



I have said that the rose is the universal flower. 

 Doubtless it already takes first rank among the 

 flowers that man has brought under cultivation. 



[68] 



