The fruit of
this immense plant is aromatic and delicate, and its seeds are at
present worth far more than their weight in gold, since from them are to
spring thousands of plants by means of which it is believed the
uninhabitable portions of the desert may be made to support numberless
herds of cattle.
Another of Mr. Burbank's achievements is the evergreen crimson rhubarb,
which is not only far less acid than the old variety, but richer in
flavor and a giant in size.
The pomato, a tomato grown on a potato plant, is most interesting. The
plant is a free bearer, having a white, succulent, delicious fruit,
admirable when cooked, used in a salad, or eaten fresh as our other
fruit.
The experiments with prunes conducted at the Santa Rosa ranch have been
of the greatest value to the state. For forty years the prune growers of
the Pacific slope had been searching for a variety of this fruit which
would be as rich in sugar and as abundant a bearer as the little
California prune of commerce, and yet of a larger size, and earlier in
its time of ripening. Mr. Burbank with his famous sugar prune filled all
these requirements, and revolutionized the prune industry of the state.
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