LUTHER BURBANK 



to question whether the laws of heredity apply to 

 plants as they do to animals. 



Needless to say all doubt on that subject was 

 dissipated by wider observation. But the hybrid 

 squash remains to this day one of the most difficult 

 plants to iix as to any particular form. 



Some very interesting and useful experiments 

 might be made in the endeavor to sort out the 

 unit characters that are mosaiced together to make 

 up the squash. If it could be determined that 

 there are pairs of unit characters governing im^ 

 portant matters of size and quality, such as are 

 found in so many other plants, an understanding; 

 of these as to their respective properties of domi- 

 nance and recessiveness might enable the plant 

 developer to hybridize the squashes and forecast 

 the results of certain unions with a greater meas- 

 ure of assurance. But as yet little or nothing has 

 been done in this direction. 



My own work with the squashes has included 

 hybridizing experiments on a somewhat extensive 

 scale, more for the general interest of the subject 

 than for the development of new commercial 

 varieties. 



I have produced, however, one somewhat im- 

 portant variety from seed sent by my collector 

 in Chile. This is a variety the original of which 

 somewhat resembled the acorn squash — ^having the 



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