BURBANK'S PRODUCTION OF HORTICULTURAL NOVELTIES. 471 



color, a large size and a perfect shape. It is very juicy and delicious 

 but its firm skin insures good shipping and keeping qualities. Its 

 first sales in Chicago made the record for plum prices in the United 

 States. It is widely distributed over the world, though somewhat 

 less hardy than other varieties. It has the best qualities of both 

 parents and in many respects surpasses both of them. It is one 

 of the best illustrations of what can be obtained in a single crossing 

 by a man who thoroughly knows all the qualities and characteristics 

 of his trees and how to combine them and who is guided by this 

 knowledge in the choice of the parents for his cross. 



It is exceedingly difficult to gain a correct idea of the influence 

 which the introduction of such novelties can have over the horti- 

 culture of some definite country or state. The Burbank, Satsuma, 

 sugar and Wickson plums are now largely cultivated in California 

 as well as elsewhere. They have partially supplanted old varieties 

 and have, also, been the means of increasing the acreage devoted 

 to plum culture. But it is manifest that the change of varieties 

 requires the regrafting of the orchards and cannot be performed at 

 once. It often requires ten years or more to revolutionize an es- 

 tablished and profitable industry on any large scale. It takes some 

 years to prove the trustworthiness of the new sorts and to con- 

 vince the fruit-growers of the desirability of the change. The 

 production of a new variety is one great step, but its introduction 

 and distribution is another equally important one. The whole 

 fruit-growing industry of California amounts to an aggregate value 

 of about sixty millions of dollars annually, and of this sum hardly 

 one per cent, is represented by the varieties imported or created 

 by Burbank. 



If we compare these figures with those given for the importance 

 of the Burbank potato, we find a great difference. But for a fair 

 appreciation we must realize that the Wickson plum is scarcely older 

 than the ten years required for its first wide distribution and that 

 most of the other hybrids created by Burbank are much younger. 

 We must leave it to the future to decide what will be the real sig- 

 nificance of the improvements in fruits and flowers, of which this 

 one man has produced such an astonishing number of excellencies. 



(The Open Court, Vol. XX, igo6, p. 641.) 



