LUTHER BURBANK 
thrive in ordinary soils and under ordinary sys- 
tems of cultivation. No pampered pets are offered 
from my grounds for general culture. 
I would urge any orchardist who operates on a 
large scale to consider the matter of selecting as 
far as possible varieties of fruit trees that are more 
or less immune to disease, rather than to depend 
on the at best somewhat precarious method of 
warding off the enemies by spraying. Prevention 
is better than cure with plants no less than with 
human beings. But of course the renovator of an 
old orchard, whose task is at the moment under 
consideration, must work with the materials sup- 
plied him and cannot ignore the fungus and insect 
pests that attack his trees; although by dint of 
proper grafting he may hope presently to trans- 
form the character of the trees in such a way as 
to give them partial immunity. The orchardist of 
the future will have still better ones in these re- 
gards. 
PLANNING A NEw ORCHARD 
So much for the renovation of the old orchard. 
I have spoken thus at length on this aspect of the 
subject because of its obvious importance, and 
because it aims at the correction of a widespread 
condition and has to do with the possible restora- 
tion of properties in the aggregate of enormous 
value. 
[52] 
